Departmental Information Officers

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost to his Department of  (a) press officers and  (b) other press office staff has been in each year since 1997.

Kevan Jones: Currently, there are 110 press officers employed across the Department, as recorded in the Central Office of Information's White Book, of which 35 are within the central MOD Media and Communications unit or Regional Defence Press Officer Network. Additionally, there are five press office support staff.
	The total includes civilian and military staff working across the Department (including within single services) and are defined as those who directly interface with national or regional media on news issues, and in direct support of operations.
	The cost for the 35 press officers and five support staff employed by the central organisation based on capitation rates for 2009-10 is approximately £2.2 million, which includes some £115,000 for the press office support staff.
	Press officer costs in other areas of the Department and historical records, since 1997, are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Data Protection

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many  (a) attempts and  (b) successful attempts were made to gain unauthorised access to each (i) database and (ii) ICT system run by his Department in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Ann McKechin: It is not in the interests of the UK's national security for departments to confirm information on the number of attempts, successful or otherwise, to gain unauthorised access to departmental systems or databases. Such disclosure could undermine the integrity and security of departmental systems and thereby expose them to potential threats.
	The Scotland Office shares an information technology system with the Scottish Executive, which is responsible for the development, administration, security and maintenance of the system. They comply with the mandatory requirements of the Security Policy Framework in relation to information security including managing the risk of unauthorised access to ICT systems.

Departmental Electronic Equipment

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many  (a) photocopiers,  (b) scanning devices and  (c) fax machines, excluding multi-function devices, there are in his Department; how many there were in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Ann McKechin: Details of the number of Scotland Office photocopiers, scanning devices and fax machines in each of the last three years are provided in the following table:
	
		
			  Scotland Office—overall 
			   2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 Photocopiers 6 5 4 
			 Scanning devices 2 2 3 
			 Fax machines (incl. secure fax) 19 18 16 
		
	
	My officials are in regular communication with their counterparts in the Scottish Government and about the information and communications technology system (SCOTS), which the Office shares with the Scottish Government, as well as compatible devices that will help reduce the carbon footprint of the office.
	The Scottish Government are complying with the same standards as those set out in the Greening Government ICT Strategy.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

Alistair Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many applications for vehicle excise duty refunds from  (a) private owners and  (b) motor dealerships have been processed by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in each month since January 2008; and what the monetary value was of the refunds made in each such month.

Paul Clark: The following table provides the total number and value of vehicle excise duty refunds processed by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) since January 2008. Separate figures are not available for private owners and motor dealerships. However, since January 2009 only the current or previous registered keeper would receive a refund of vehicle excise duty and then only after informing the DVLA why the vehicle no longer requires a valid tax disc:
	
		
			  Month  Volume  Value (£000) 
			 January 2008 314,491 19,011 
			 February 2008 302,928 21,383 
			 March 2008 272,720 17,447 
			 April 2008 393,654 24,724 
			 May 2008 301,969 22,010 
			 June 2008 336,389 21,281 
			 July 2008 321,566 22,322 
			 August 2008 290,476 20,329 
			 September 2008 306,270 20,031 
			 October 2008 355,190 26,895 
			 November 2008 313,229 23,223 
			 December 2008 234,214 18,330 
			 January 2009 235,022 17,262 
			 February 2009 195,601 11,688 
			 March 2009 191,752 16,579 
			 April 2009 274,613 16,216 
			 May 2009 183,451 14,721 
			 June 2009 270,709 17,704

Sustainable Development Commission

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what criteria were used to select the new Chairman of the Sustainable Development Commission; and what the remuneration is for that post in 2009-10.

Dan Norris: As the sponsoring Department for the Sustainable Development Commission, DEFRA, on behalf of the Cabinet Office, managed the appointment of the new chair of the Sustainable Development Commission. The process was managed in line with the Office for the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) guidelines.
	Candidates were required to demonstrate the full range of criteria outlined in the information pack for the post (see OCPA Guidelines Annex A).
	All devolved Administrations and the Prime Minister approved the recommended appointment. Remuneration for the SDC chair is £400 per diem. The time input for the position is two to three days per week subject to negotiation.

Veterinary Medicines Agency: Pay

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much was paid in bonuses to  (a) directors,  (b) senior managers,  (c) specialist and delivery managers and  (d) executive support and administrative staff in the Veterinary Medicines Agency in each of the last five years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Veterinary Medicines Directorate is an Executive agency of DEFRA and follows DEFRA's pay agreements for staff outside the senior civil service. Non-consolidated performance payments for directors are paid under the senior civil service pay agreement and the payments for the chief executive is part of his contract of employment. The VMD's other staff are eligible for non-consolidated performance payments under the DEFRA scheme. Many of VMD's staff straddle the categories requested so it has not been possible to break down the total annual payments for these staff which are set out in the following table.
	
		
			  £ 
			   2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 CEO and directors (1)0 19,047 19,674 20,405 29,803 
			 Other staff (2)— 71,767 80,800 70,828 51,725 
			 Total 0 90,814 100,474 91,233 81,528 
			 (1) The CEO's non-consolidated performance payments for 2003-04 and 2004-05 were paid in 2005-06. (2) The VMD is unable to identify payments paid as a separate component of gross salary before 2005-06 as this information was not available from the previous payroll bureau.

Rail Service: Aberystwyth-London

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with Welsh Assembly Government Ministers and Ministerial colleagues on proposals for the introduction of a direct rail service between Aberystwyth and London.

Wayne David: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have regular meetings with Welsh Assembly Government and ministerial colleagues to discuss matters relating to Wales, including transport issues.
	I would like to pay tribute to the work of the hon. Gentleman in his campaigning to raise the profile of this proposed rail service. There is a strong demand for increased rail services in Wales, and a further rail service to London would be most welcome not only to rail users but also local businesses, by encouraging even more visitors to Wales.

Alcoholic Drinks: Young People

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how much was collected in fines levied upon retail store licensees for serving alcohol to minors in each local authority area within the ceremonial county of Hampshire in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how much was collected against fines levied upon public house licensees for serving alcohol to minors in each local authority area within the ceremonial county of Hampshire in each of the last five years.

Alan Campbell: It is not possible to differentiate between fines given to retailers and those given to licensees of public houses. Additionally, data on the collection of fines for specific offences are not held, therefore the answer given in table 1 shows the sum of all fines imposed for offences relating to the sale of alcohol to under 18's. The actual amount collected, and the status of the defendant is not known.
	
		
			  Fines issued in Hampshire police force area for selling alcohol to under 18's 
			   2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			  Selling etc. intoxicating liquor to person under 18 on the premises  
			 Number of fines issued 0 6 7 0 0 
			 Sum of fines imposed (£) — 1,740 1,800 — — 
			   
			  Sale of alcohol to person under 18  
			 Number of fines issued 0 0 0 0 4 
			 Sum of fines imposed (£) — — — — 1,690 
			  Note: 1. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. 2. These data are presented on the principal offence basis. Where an offender has been sentenced for more than one offence the principal offence is the one for which the heaviest sentence was imposed. Where the same sentence has been imposed for two or more offences the principal offence is the one for which the statutory maximum is most severe.  Source: OMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice

British Citizenship

Colin Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many non-UK born people have been given British citizenship in each of the last three years; and from which countries such people originated.

Phil Woolas: The information requested is not in the public domain in the required format.
	Information based upon the previous nationality of those granted British Citizenship is provided in the table.
	
		
			  Grants of British citizenship in the United Kingdom in 2006, 2007 and 2008(P) by previous nationality 
			  Number of persons 
			  Previous nationality  2006  2007  2008 
			  European Economic Area
			 Austria 25 50 35 
			 Belgium 75 40 35 
			 Bulgaria 625 1,115 795 
			 Cyprus 105 40 30 
			 Czech Republic 95 80 40 
			 Denmark 25 65 30 
			 Estonia 60 65 20 
			 Finland 30 40 30 
			 France 340 480 370 
			 Germany 260 370 300 
			 Greece 150 285 225 
			 Hungary 110 95 55 
			 Ireland 115 140 95 
			 Italy 260 345 240 
			 Latvia 90 85 30 
			 Liechtenstein — 5 * 
			 Lithuania 215 170 65 
			 Luxembourg 5 † * 
			 Malta 45 30 20 
			 Netherlands 115 200 130 
			 Norway 30 25 15 
			 Poland 580 560 250 
			 Portugal 535 520 405 
			 Romania 600 540 385 
			 Slovakia 155 125 55 
			 Slovenia 10 10 5 
			 Spain 170 185 125 
			 Sweden 55 105 85 
			 Total European Economic Area 3,665 5,785 3,885 
			 
			  Remainder of Europe
			 Albania 885 1,115 930 
			 Armenia 110 140 70 
			 Azerbaijan 130 215 160 
			 Belarus 170 175 155 
			 Bosnia-Herzegovina 230 195 110 
			 Croatia 605 375 165 
			 Cyprus (Northern part of) 390 130 85 
			 Georgia 175 155 110 
			 Kazakhstan 95 120 80 
			 Kyrgyzstan 45 65 45 
			 Macedonia 135 215 140 
			 Moldova 90 130 100 
			 Russia 1,830 1,885 1,380 
			 Serbia and Montenegro 7,550 3,485 1,865 
			 Switzerland 95 70 45 
			 Tajikistan 10 5 10 
			 Turkey 5,590 4,710 4,640 
			 Turkmenistan 10 25 20 
			 Ukraine 865 1,220 705 
			 Uzbekistan 60 90 60 
			 Total Remainder of Europe 20,305 14,515 10,875 
			 
			  Americas
			 Antigua and Barbuda 15 20 15 
			 Argentina 120 125 120 
			 Bahamas 15 10 15 
			 Barbados 145 105 85 
			 Belize 15 20 15 
			 Bolivia 70 75 65 
			 Brazil 540 610 605 
			 Canada 1,325 1,140 815 
			 Chile 100 90 90 
			 Colombia 1,580 1,845 1,115 
			 Costa Rica 15 10 10 
			 Cuba 90 90 80 
			 Dominica 50 35 45 
			 Dominican Republic 35 20 35 
			 Ecuador 955 745 580 
			 El Salvador 10 5 15 
			 Grenada 65 70 60 
			 Guatemala 5 20 15 
			 Guyana 240 240 210 
			 Haiti 5 5 5 
			 Honduras 10 5 10 
			 Jamaica 2,525 3,165 2,715 
			 Mexico 145 135 115 
			 Netherlands Antilles — — * 
			 Nicaragua 5 5 10 
			 Panama 10 10 25 
			 Paraguay 5 † 5 
			 Peru 130 220 170 
			 St. Kitts and Nevis 10 10 5 
			 St. Lucia 85 125 140 
			 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 55 130 135 
			 Trinidad and Tobago 490 480 380 
			 United States of America 3,020 2,785 2,205 
			 Uruguay 25 10 10 
			 Venezuela 105 155 120 
			 Total Americas 12,015 12,530 10,050 
			 
			  Africa
			 Algeria 1,015 1,170 955 
			 Angola 945 1,200 1,070 
			 Benin 15 15 10 
			 Botswana 25 25 20 
			 Burkina Faso 10 5 10 
			 Burundi 425 680 520 
			 Cameroon 395 535 420 
			 Cape Verde † † * 
			 Central African Republic 5 † * 
			 Chad 50 30 25 
			 Comoros † † 5 
			 Congo 550 470 280 
			 Congo Democratic Republic 1,910 2,100 1,575 
			 Djibouti 10 10 10 
			 Egypt 595 730 485 
			 Equatorial Guinea † 5 10 
			 Eritrea 705 915 660 
			 Ethiopia 670 865 485 
			 Gabon 5 10 5 
			 Gambia 315 410 395 
			 Ghana 2,990 3,375 3,135 
			 Guinea 35 75 95 
			 Guinea-Bissau 5 15 5 
			 Ivory Coast 395 450 370 
			 Kenya 2,380 2,235 1,405 
			 Lesotho 10 15 10 
			 Liberia 170 245 195 
			 Libya 460 405 385 
			 Madagascar 5 5 10 
			 Malawi 130 165 175 
			 Mali 5 5 * 
			 Mauritania 5 15 5 
			 Mauritius 640 905 650 
			 Morocco 495 510 500 
			 Mozambique 20 15 10 
			 Namibia 25 30 20 
			 Niger 15 5 * 
			 Nigeria 5,875 6,030 4,530 
			 Rwanda 565 745 405 
			 Senegal 25 35 30 
			 Seychelles 70 75 55 
			 Sierra Leone 1,660 2,195 1,270 
			 Somalia 9,050 7,450 7,165 
			 South Africa 7,670 8,150 5,265 
			 Sudan 965 735 570 
			 Swaziland 5 20 10 
			 Tanzania 675 530 410 
			 Togo 120 105 60 
			 Tunisia 130 185 150 
			 Uganda 1,100 1,210 910 
			 Western Sahara † — * 
			 Zambia 400 555 460 
			 Zimbabwe 2,545 5,590 5,710 
			 Total Africa 46,280 51,255 40,910 
			 
			  Indian sub-continent
			 Bangladesh 3,725 2,250 3,635 
			 India 15,125 14,490 11,825 
			 Pakistan 10,260 8,140 9,440 
			 Total Indian sub-continent 29,110 24,885 24,900 
			 
			  Middle East
			 Bahrain 15 15 10 
			 Iran 3,285 4,425 2,200 
			 Iraq 4,125 5,480 8,895 
			 Israel 570 540 350 
			 Jordan 320 310 175 
			 Kuwait 70 25 40 
			 Lebanon 515 625 320 
			 Oman 5 5 5 
			 Palestine 340 425 280 
			 Saudi Arabia 60 75 30 
			 Syria 390 330 230 
			 United Arab Emirates 20 25 10 
			 Yemen 520 400 335 
			 Total Middle East 10,240 12,685 12,880 
			 
			  Remainder of Asia
			 Afghanistan 3,400 10,555 5,540 
			 Bhutan 20 35 30 
			 Brunei 10 10 5 
			 Cambodia 15 25 15 
			 China 2,785 3,345 2,860 
			 Hong Kong SAR of China (Holder of Certificate of Identity or Document of Identity) 10 10 10 
			 Hong Kong SAR of China (Holder of Special Administrative Region Passport) 85 100 105 
			 Indonesia 170 170 115 
			 Japan 180 135 110 
			 Korea (North) 5 † * 
			 Korea (South) 300 575 410 
			 Laos 10 5 10 
			 Malaysia 560 635 590 
			 Maldives 5 5 5 
			 Mongolia 45 65 70 
			 Myanmar (Burma) 145 180 145 
			 Nepal 915 1,045 930 
			 Philippines 8,840 10,840 5,380 
			 Singapore 95 120 120 
			 Sri Lanka 5,720 6,495 3,285 
			 Thailand 785 985 1,070 
			 Vietnam 190 305 290 
			 Total Remainder of Asia 24,295 35,640 21,085 
			 
			  Oceania
			 American Samoa † † * 
			 Australia 3,380 2,835 1,990 
			 Fiji 25 65 80 
			 Nauru 5 † * 
			 New Zealand 1,565 1,355 980 
			 Papua New Guinea 5 5 * 
			 Samoa † † * 
			 Tonga † 10 10 
			 Total Oceania 4,980 4,285 3,060 
			 
			  Other
			 British overseas territories citizen (1) 470 820 330 
			 British Nationals (Overseas) 545 680 540 
			 British Overseas citizen 1,545 1,100 570 
			 British protected persons 160 100 50 
			 British subjects 190 150 60 
			 Nationality Currently Unknown 10 15 5 
			 Nationality Unknown Officially Designated as Stateless 50 30 20 
			 Stateless—Defined 1954 Convention 100 45 70 
			 Stateless Refugee—Defined 1951 Convention 15 5 5 
			 Stateless refugee—Other 40 15 10 
			 Total Other 3,130 2,965 1,660 
			 
			  Grand Total 154,015 164,540 129,310 
			 (1) Excluding Gibraltar BOTCs. 
		
	
	The information has been provided with reference to the published statistics.

Citizenship: Gurkhas

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Gurkhas have  (a) applied for,  (b) been granted and  (c) been refused British citizenship in each of the last 15 years.

Phil Woolas: UKBA does not capture information relating to the employment of individual applicants electronically. We can not therefore provide information on the numbers of Ghurkhas or former Ghurkhas who have naturalised in the past 15 years as a British citizen. The information requested could be obtained by the detailed examination of individual case records of all Nepalese nationals who had applied for British citizenship in the past 15 years only at disproportionate cost.

Crime: Suffolk

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes committed by  (a) males and  (b) females aged between 10 and 17 years were recorded in Suffolk in each of the last five years.

Alan Campbell: The information requested is not collected centrally. From the recorded crime statistics collected by the Home Office it is not possible to identify the age or sex of the alleged offender.
	The Ministry of Justice collect information on the number of persons proceeded against and convicted by age and sex.

Criminal Records Bureau

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much on average it cost the Criminal Records Bureau to process a  (a) standard and  (b) enhanced check in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

David Hanson: The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) is an Executive agency of the Home Office and issues higher level disclosures (both standard and enhanced) for employment and licensing purposes, as provided for in part V of the Police Act 1997. The CRB has been self-funding since 2006.
	Fees have been frozen at the 2006-07 level, meaning the cost of a disclosure has not increased since April 2006. This has been achieved as a direct result of year on year internal efficiency savings and year on year increases in demand.
	Approximately 20 per cent. of applications are from volunteers and disclosures for volunteers continue to be processed free of charge. This has resulted in a considerable saving for the voluntary sector.
	As the CRB is self-funding, the processing costs for all the volunteer applications, processed free of charge, needs to be recovered through the fee paid by other applicants; consequently, the fee must be set higher than the unit cost.
	The unit cost of a standard and an enhanced disclosure is the average cost to the CRB of producing one disclosure, irrespective of whether the disclosure is paid for. The following table shows the unit costs in each of the last five financial years.
	
		
			  £ 
			  Financial year  Standard disclosure  Enhanced disclosure 
			 2004-05 22.73 28.09 
			 2005-06 19.94 26.86 
			 2006-07 18.34 24.30 
			 2007-08 24.34 33.29 
			 2008-09 25.18 35.21

Illegal Immigrants: Deportation

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements his Department has made with the French Government to fly back to their country of origin potential illegal entrants into the United Kingdom from France; when he expects the first such flights to happen; how costs will be split between the Government and the French Government; and what payments in cash or benefits in kind will be made to those placed on such flights.

Phil Woolas: The United Kingdom (UK) continues to work with France—one of our closest European partners—in fighting illegal migration. Our shared determination has already created one of the toughest border crossings in the world at Calais. As part of this co-operation, the UK and France are assessing the feasibility of joint return flights to fly back to their country of origin potential illegal entrants who have no lawful basis with which to be in either country.
	The UK Border Agency does not disclose information in advance about the dates or destinations of charter flights in order to ensure the safety and security of our own staff, our contractors, and those we are seeking to return. Additionally, the government of the country of origin may request that we do not publicise our operation as a condition of granting clearance for the flight. As there are currently no firm arrangements in place for the UK and France to operate a joint flight, there has been no agreement about cost allocation or whether any payment to returnees is appropriate. Any details about costs or breakdown of costs to an airline contracted for the purpose of a joint flight would be regarded as commercially confidential.

Offensive Weapons

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps he has taken to tackle knife crime; and if he will make a statement.

David Hanson: In March my predecessor announced an extra £5 million to tackle knife crime and increase targeted police action to tackle a minority of young people who commit serious violence, regardless of the weapon involved. In June I committed more than £2 million to support over 150 organisations who work with young people to tackle knife crime and support victims.

Offensive Weapons

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department has spent on promoting anti-knife initiatives in the last 12 months.

David Hanson: The Home Office spent a total of £1,918,979 on promoting anti-knife initiatives in the last complete financial year 2008-09 (this figure is composed of advertising media, PR and print costs but excludes supplier fees, production and VAT).

UK Border Agency: Office of the Chief Inspector

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what the budget is of the Office of the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency; and how many staff are employed in that office;
	(2)  how many staff employed in the Office of the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency worked for his Department prior to their appointment at the Agency;
	(3)  what the salary is of the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency; at what pay grades staff in his office are employed; and how many such staff are employed at each grade;
	(4)  what the cost of the premises occupied by the Office of the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency is in 2009-10.

Phil Woolas: The independent Chief Inspector UK Border Agency has a budget of £3 million for 2009 -10. As of 1 July 2009, 24.9 full-time equivalent staff work in the Office of the Chief Inspector (excluding the Chief Inspector). An additional five staff have been appointed and are expected to take up posts shortly.
	Of the 24.9 full-time equivalent staff in post on 1 July 2009, 15.9 staff worked for the Home Office prior to their employment.
	The Chief Inspector's current salary is £159,108. The following table sets out the position on the current number and grades of staff (excluding the Chief Inspector).
	The annual costs for 2009-10 for the premises occupied by the Office of the Chief Inspector UK Border Agency are still to be confirmed.
	
		
			  Office of Chief Inspector UKBA staff as at 1 July 2009 
			   Number 
			 Senior Civil Service (Pay Band 1) 1 
			 Grade 6 4 
			 Grade 7 7.9 
			 SEO or equivalent 7 
			 HEO or equivalent 1 
			 EO or equivalent 4 
			 AA/AO or equivalent 0 
			  Note: In addition: 3 x SEO; 1 x EO and 1 x AO have been appointed and will take up posts shortly.

Vetting

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Surrey Heath of 16 October 2008,  Official Report, column 1436W, on vetting, how many  (a) standard and  (b) enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks were undertaken in each police force area in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

David Hanson: The total number of standard and enhanced disclosures processed in each financial year since 2002 until March 2009 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  CRB checks processed 
			  Financial year  Standard disclosures  Enhanced disclosures  Total 
			 2002-03 178,375 1,258,719 1,437,094 
			 2003-04 285,130 1,999,558 2,284,688 
			 2004-05 275,197 2,155,740 2,430,937 
			 2005-06 313,368 2,456,897 2,770,265 
			 2006-07 329,223 2,948,734 3,277,957 
			 2007-08 294,592 3,028,659 3,323,251 
			 2008-09 396,274 3,457,410 3,853,684 
			 Grand total 2,072,159 17,305,717 19,377,876 
		
	
	The CRB cannot provide figures broken down by police force area. This is because standard disclosures are processed without any requirement for the police forces to conduct checks and several different police forces may be required to conduct checks in order to produce one enhanced disclosure.
	The CRB has now issued over 20 million disclosures since inception and operates to a set of published service standards (PSS) which are to issue 95 per cent. of standard disclosures within 10 days and 90 per cent. of enhanced disclosures within 28 days. While the CRB have consistently exceeded their targets for standard disclosures, there have been problems in meeting the target set for enhanced disclosures.
	To address these problems associated with delays, the CRB have set up an improvement plan with their delivery partners, including the police forces. This is aimed at maintaining a balanced output of applications on the system while also reducing the number of aged cases. This work has started to show an improvement in turnaround times but the CRB will continue to monitor forces performance in line with their own performance.

Energy: Conservation

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent steps he has taken to implement the undertakings made by the Prime Minister on 11 September 2008 in relation to the home energy saving programme; and if he will make a statement.

David Kidney: holding answer 23 March 2009
	 The Prime Minister's announcement saw a £74 million increase in funding for the Warm Front Scheme, offering grants for central heating and energy efficiency measures for the fuel poor. Over 37,000 households have been assisted to date with this additional funding.
	Also the weekly rate for cold weather payments was increased from £8.50 to £25. Over 8 million payments were made during winter 2008-09—at a value of £209 million.
	Following full public consultation, the Government have laid the statutory instruments giving effect to the proposals for the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) and the increase in the Carbon Emissions Reductions Target (CERT), subject to parliamentary approval.

Energy: Conservation

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much new funding for low-carbon community heating schemes announced in Budget 2009 will be provided in  (a) 2009-10,  (b) 2010-11 and  (c) subsequent years.

David Kidney: Of the £25 million made available in Budget 2009 to fund low-carbon community heating schemes, £20.96 million is being administered by the Homes and Communities Agency to fund at least 10 exemplar schemes in England. It is anticipated that all of the funding will be provided to successful schemes in 2009-10. The remainder of the funding was made available to the devolved Administrations in line with the Barnett formula and is a matter for them.

Fuel Poverty

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change which schemes sponsored by the Government have as an objective the reduction of fuel poverty; which such schemes are planned; and how much has been spent on each scheme in the latest period for which figures are available.

David Kidney: Warm Front is the main Government funded scheme for tackling fuel poverty in England. Over 1.9 million households have received assistance with heating, insulation and other energy efficient measures since the scheme's inception in June 2000.
	Funding for the scheme has been increased to more than £950 million in the current spending round. In the previous spending round period, 2005-08, Warm Front total spend was £862 million.
	The Government are currently undertaking a wide-ranging review of our fuel poverty policies. The review is examining whether existing measures to tackle fuel poverty could be made more effective and whether new policies should be introduced to help us make further progress towards our goals.

Fuel Poverty

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what initiatives to tackle fuel poverty are being provided by private companies under his Department's direction; how much has been spent on each in the latest period for which figures are available; and whether any other such schemes are planned.

David Kidney: Warm Front is the main Government scheme for tackling fuel poverty in the private sector in England and is managed by eaga plc. Over 1.9 million households have received assistance with heating, insulation and other energy efficient measures since the scheme's inception in June 2000. Funding for the scheme has been increased to more than £950 million in the current spending round. The scheme is managed for the Government by eaga plc.
	The carbon emissions reduction target (CERT) is an obligation placed on energy supply companies that have more than 50,000 customers to achieve CO2 savings in the homes of domestic consumers—40 per cent. of which must be met by installing measures in the homes of a priority group of low-income consumers in receipt of qualifying benefits or are aged 70 and over.
	Energy suppliers do not disclose the amount of money that they spend on promoting CERT measures, as they regard this as being commercial-in-confidence. However, we understand that under the previous two phases of the energy efficiency commitment (EEC), which ran from April 2002 to March 2008, suppliers invested £1.325 billion promoting measures. The Government's estimate of likely spend for the current CERT is £3.2 billion. With 60 per cent. of this investment expected to be directed at the Priority Group, the total investment over nine years would total £2.7 billion.
	DECC has provided funding of £3 million between 2008-09 to 2010-11 under the Low Carbon Buildings programme—together with revenue funding from partners—to deliver pilot microgeneration projects for deprived communities in the north-east, Yorkshire and Humberside, East of England and, possibly, Wales.
	The new Community Energy Saving programme (CESP) will see the main energy companies deliver energy efficiency measures worth around £350 million to homes in low income areas around the country. The scheme will deliver both carbon savings and fuel bill savings to assisted households, and subject to parliamentary approval is expected to come into force in September this year.
	The Government are currently undertaking a wide-ranging review of our fuel poverty policies. The review is examining whether existing measures to tackle fuel poverty could be made more effective and whether new policies should be introduced to help us make further progress towards our goals.

Insulation: Housing

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much has been spent from the public purse on insulating the homes of pensioners in each local authority area in Greater Manchester in each of the last five years.

David Kidney: The following table details the Warm Front funding spent on insulating the homes of over 60's in each local authority area in Greater Manchester in each of the last five years.
	
		
			  £ 
			  Local authority  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10( 1)  Total 
			 Bolton 132,374.20 237,704.61 248,163.23 182,662.34 45,817.05 846,721.43 
			 Bury 75,986.77 162,115.45 115,095.72 97,909.33 41,201.97 492,309.24 
			 Manchester 80,305.86 174,675.11 123,719.35 97,067.10 34,664.02 510,431.44 
			 Oldham 74,876.18 152,595.20 118,227.46 93,377.32 30,278.27 469,354.43 
			 Rochdale 85,797.64 180,263.33 103,292.97 117,583.31 36,847.64 523,784.89 
			 Salford 95,302.55 186,267.34 95,899.60 131,508.95 31,440.38 540,418.82 
			 Stockport 90,460.84 221,788.91 124,709.77 193,585.93 63,698.40 694,243.85 
			 Tameside 71,009.40 153,265.42 104,586.24 147,911.29 29,391.33 506,163.68 
			 Trafford 64,147.31 122,690.78 125,323.81 129,179.62 55,439.88 496,781.40 
			 Wigan 163,826.48 289,096.05 236,302.84 288,649.36 76,426.73 1,054,301.46 
			 (1) From 1 March 2009 to 30 June 2009.

Low Carbon Buildings Programme

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much new funding for the Low-carbon Buildings Programme announced in Budget 2009 there will be in  (a) 2009-10,  (b) 2010-11 and  (c) subsequent years.

David Kidney: The new £45 million funding for the Low Carbon Buildings Programme announced in Budget 2009 will be allotted over  (a) 2009-10,  (b) 2010-11 and  (c) subsequent years as follows:
	
		
			   2009-10  2010-11  Total 
			 Phase I Ext (Householders) 5 5 10 
			 Phase II Ext (Others) 25 10 35 
			 Total   45 
		
	
	There is no planned expenditure after 2011. The Low Carbon Buildings Programme will be superseded by Feed in Tariffs in 2010 and Renewable Heat Incentives in 2011.

Low Carbon Buildings Programme

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when the first payments of money from the new funding for the Low-carbon Buildings Programme announced in Budget 2009 will be made.

David Kidney: The new grant funding under the Low Carbon Buildings Programme became available from 1 July 2009 when new applications were welcomed. With a lead in period of approximately three months between grant offer letter and payment upon completion of project—the first payment of grant money allocated is expected to be in October 2009.

Low Carbon Buildings Programme

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what proportion of the new funding for the Low-carbon Buildings Programme announced in Budget 2009 will be made available for solar photovoltaic installations in  (a) 2009-10,  (b) 2010-11 and  (c) subsequent years.

David Kidney: The proportion of the new £45 million funding for Low Carbon Buildings programme (LCBP) announced in Budget 2009 which will be made available for solar photovoltaic applications under LCBP Phase 2 in  (a) 2009-10,  (b) 2010-11 and  (c) subsequent years is as follows:
	
		
			2009-10  2010-11  Total 
			 Phase II Ext Addition for PV New 14 0 14 
		
	
	There is no planned expenditure after 2011. The Low Carbon Buildings programme will be superseded by feed in tariffs in 2010 and renewable heat incentives in 2011.

Members: Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when the Parliamentary Under-Secretary in his Department plans to reply to the email of 31 March from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire on a replacement low carbon buildings programme.

Joan Ruddock: holding answer 12 May 2009
	I apologise for the unacceptable delay in replying to the hon. Member, which was due to administrative error in my Department.
	The e-mail the hon. Member refers to forwarded correspondence from Councillor Anne Mackison regarding the Low Carbon Buildings Programme. My colleague, the previous Minister of State in this Department, replied directly to Councillor Mackison on 20 April 2009. I apologise that the hon. Member was not copied in to that letter, and I have therefore sent a copy of that letter to him today.

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the amount of commercial income that will be earned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in  (a) 2009-10,  (b) 2010-11,  (c) 2011-12 and  (d) 2012-13.

David Kidney: The budget of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) for 2009-10 and 2010-11 was considered within the context of the 2007 comprehensive spending review (CSR07). The settlement assumed that the NDA's commercial income would be £2.2 billion for 2009-10 and 2010-11. The commercial income budget for 2011-12 and 2012-13 has yet to be determined, and will take into account the end of life of existing Magnox electricity generating stations and the evaporative capacity at Sellafield.

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much commercial income was earned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in  (a) 2007-08 and  (b) 2008-09.

David Kidney: The NDA publishes commercial income in their annual report and accounts. Their commercial income for 2007-08 was £1,458 million. The accounts for 2008-09 will be laid before Parliament later this month.

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's budget is for  (a) 2009-10,  (b) 2010-11,  (c) 2011-12 and  (d) 2012-13, broken down by budget heading.

David Kidney: The budget of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) for 2009-10 and 2010-11 was considered within the context of the 2007 comprehensive spending review (CSR07). The settlement provides the NDA with £3.3 billion direct Government funding over the last two years of CSR07 (£1.6 billion in 2009-10 and £1.7 billion in 2010-11) of which £0.9 billion is resource and £2.4 billion is capital. Together with its commercial income the total funding available over the last two years of CSR07 is projected to be £5.5 billion. The budget for 2011-12 and 2012-13 has yet to be determined.

Nuclear Power Stations: Construction

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what progress has been made on the generic design assessment for nuclear new build against the Office for Nuclear Development's draft timeline.

David Kidney: holding answer 8 July 2009
	The UK nuclear regulators are currently assessing two designs under the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process—EdF/Areva's UK-EPR and Westinghouse's API 000.
	This process is being undertaken by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) and the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) (both part of the Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Directorate) and the Environment Agency.
	GDA began in July 2007 on a contingent basis, pending the outcome of the Government's consultation on nuclear power in January 2008. Regulators completed their initial stage of the assessment in March 2008. The more detailed assessment stages of GDA commenced in June 2008.
	Regulators have stated that they remain on track to complete GDA by June 2011. The NII will produce interim reports in November 2009 and the Environment Agency aim to undertake a public consultation on their findings in spring 2010. This is consistent with the Government's indicative timeline for the first new nuclear power stations coming online from around 2018.
	Regular updates on the progress of GDA, including quarterly reports, are published on the regulator's joint website:
	http://www.hse.gov.uk/newreactors/index.htm

Radioactive Waste: Waste Management

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials in his Department have had with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on (i) the earliest and (ii) latest dates for the proposed national deep-level geological repository for radioactive waste to open to receive waste deposits; and what discussions have been held on the operational opening dates.

David Kidney: holding answer 9 July 2009
	Ministers and Officials meet the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) regularly to discuss its responsibilities for decommissioning and clean-up of the UK's public civil nuclear sites including the geological disposal of higher activity radioactive waste.
	The process to site a geological disposal facility is driven by discussions with potential host communities. The programme is flexible and able to incorporate both robust technical site investigations and ongoing interactions between the project and potential host communities. The Government have therefore not set a fixed delivery timetable, but the NDA, as part of their baseline delivery strategy, has a current planning assumption that the disposal facility could be available to receive the first waste in 2040. In the event that geological disposal facilities are not available until after this date, interim stores will have their lives extended as required, in order to provide safe and secure interim storage throughout the geological disposal facility development programme.

Future Jobs Fund

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate she has made of the average level of subsidy per person funded by the Future Jobs Fund in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jim Knight: This is still an open bidding process and organisations are able to bid for up to £6,500 for every job they create. It is a rolling assessment process with more organisations bidding to the fund every day. It is up to those bidders to decide what level of funding they require to create a Future Jobs Fund job.

Jobcentre Plus: Offices

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much Jobcentre Plus has spent on  (a) increasing the physical capacity of jobcentres,  (b) acquiring new office space,  (c) extending existing office space and  (d) converting existing office space to accommodate higher demand for Jobcentre Plus services in the last 12 months.

Jim Knight: holding answer 8 July 2009
	The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Mel Groves:
	The Secretary of State has asked me to respond to your question asking how much Jobcentre Plus has spent on (a) increasing the physical capacity of jobcentres, (b) acquiring new office space, (c) extending existing office space and (d) converting existing office space to accommodate higher demand for Jobcentre Plus services. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
	Jobcentre Plus are continuously reviewing existing service delivery arrangements in order to meet the challenge of the current economic climate and the planned welfare reform changes for the next two to three years. The latest reviews have taken account of the latest known information on the expected increases in business and customer volumes.
	The latest review has identified that around 50% of Jobcentre Plus offices currently face a capacity challenge. This challenge will be met through a range of solutions and we are unable to provide the data to fully respond to your questions (a, b, c and d) until all of these solutions have been implemented.
	In the light of the unprecedented customer demand we have secured the required funding to convert or extend our existing buildings where necessary. In addition we aim to make our services accessible to customers by providing a range of support through outreach facilities, often delivering advisory and other support on Partner's premises. We are supplementing these measures by operating extended opening hours in some locations where the need for this is identified locally. This includes some offices opening to the public on Saturday. We will only acquire new space where all other measures are insufficient.
	To date estates work has been undertaken and completed on 18 of our buildings at a cost of £1m, increasing our capacity to deliver additional customer service to the public. Estates work is planned for a further 151 buildings. This work is currently at an early stage and therefore the costs are not fully known.

Jobcentre Plus: Pay

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid in bonuses to  (a) directors,  (b) senior managers,  (c) specialist and delivery managers and  (d) executive support and administration staff in Jobcentre Plus in each of the last five years.

Jim Knight: Information is only available for the most recent two years requested and is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Bonuses paid in 2007-08 and 2008-09 for Jobcentre Plus 
			  £000 
			   Staff grade range  2007-08  2008-09 
			 Directors — 81 87 
			 Senior managers Band F to below Director level 721 582 
			 Specialist and Delivery Managers Band D to E 2,802 1,977 
			 Executive Support and Administration staff Band A to C 19,505 12,042 
			 Total  23,109 14,688 
			  Source: DWP Payroll reports and Jobcentre Plus Accounts

Mesothelioma

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many deaths in each age category were attributable to mesothelioma in each year since 1979.

Jonathan R Shaw: The number of mesothelioma deaths in Great Britain in each five-year age category in each year from 1979 to 2006 (the latest year for which statistics are available) is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Mesothelioma deaths by five-year age group, 1979 to 2006 
			   10-14  15-19  20-24  25-29  30-34  35-39  40-44  45-49  50-54  55-59  60-64  65-69  70-74  75-79  80-84  85+  Total 
			 1979 — — — 2 4 7 11 19 47 64 62 85 71 44 15 3 434 
			 1980 — — 1 — 1 7 11 21 45 66 69 90 74 44 18 10 457 
			 1981 — — — 1 — 6 17 20 35 76 91 78 63 52 27 2 468 
			 1982 — — — — 3 9 19 23 40 73 90 86 92 47 17 8 507 
			 1983 — — 1 1 — 5 12 26 48 85 91 91 99 64 38 10 571 
			 1984 — — 1 — — 9 13 30 44 81 118 108 98 62 47 12 623 
			 1985 — — — 1 3 6 13 33 34 89 118 81 114 73 35 18 618 
			 1986 — 1 — — 3 9 15 31 50 87 124 128 115 86 42 15 706 
			 1987 — — — 1 2 7 21 28 69 99 154 143 116 100 60 14 814 
			 1988 — — — — 1 4 20 41 64 112 134 180 145 106 39 26 872 
			 1989 — — — — 2 10 15 35 66 115 162 185 119 120 59 21 909 
			 1990 — — — — 2 3 20 42 73 96 139 164 151 116 60 29 895 
			 1991 — — — — — 6 22 48 70 113 153 212 193 120 69 17 1,023 
			 1992 — — 1 — 1 7 21 45 92 118 162 195 194 166 67 28 1,097 
			 1993 — — — 1 2 4 17 49 86 114 154 203 234 149 106 33 1,152 
			 1994 — — — 1 — — 9 52 100 123 203 234 219 166 89 50 1,246 
			 1995 1 — — 1 1 3 14 38 82 152 163 250 267 194 100 51 1,317 
			 1996 — — — — 1 3 8 42 87 137 164 239 264 176 126 75 1,322 
			 1997 — — — — — 3 9 35 95 129 192 243 260 214 121 66 1,367 
			 1998 — — — 1 1 3 7 37 91 143 173 251 301 274 164 95 1,541 
			 1999 — — — 1 3 — 7 25 78 178 230 258 288 320 147 80 1,615 
			 2000 — — — 1 — 3 9 26 85 148 242 250 330 292 151 96 1,633 
			 2001 — — 1 — 1 2 11 27 94 179 242 276 332 357 216 124 1,862 
			 2002 — — — — 1 3 2 13 82 181 265 296 382 331 196 116 1,868 
			 2003 — 1 — 1 2 — 6 24 63 169 244 324 309 364 256 124 1,887 
			 2004 — — — — — 2 9 24 42 156 270 327 362 371 282 134 1,979 
			 2005(1) — 1 — — 2 3 8 21 72 164 266 337 366 376 279 152 2,047 
			 2006(1) — — — 1 — 1 6 18 51 144 266 363 355 386 295 170 2,056 
			 Total 1 3 5 14 36 125 352 873 1,885 3391 4,741 5,677 5,913 5,170 3,121 1,579 32,886 
			 (1) Provisional.  Source: Health and Safety Executive British Mesothelioma Register.

New Deal Schemes

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people completed a new deal programme in each of the last three years; and what the cost of new deal programmes was in each of those years.

Jim Knight: The following table gives the available data on the number of people who left the New Deal programmes in the last three years. The figures cover only New Deal for Young People, New Deal 25-Plus and New Deal for Partners. They include people leaving from the Jobcentre Plus and the provider-delivered elements of the programme.
	
		
			   Total leavers from the above stated programmes 
			 2006 264,710 
			 2007 314,990 
			 2008 262,190 
			  Notes: Time Series—year of leaving. The calendar year of leaving New Deal. Latest data are to November 2008. 1. The totals for each year exclude those customers on New Deal for Lone Parents, Disabled People and New Deal 50 Plus due to the unavailability of the data. 2. The measure used for New Deal for Partners is Leavers (individuals) as spells are not available for this New Deal. They may or may not have completed. For all other programmes the figures shown are for those who have completed. 3. Since June 2008, New Deal for Disabled People has ceased to operate as a national programme.  Source: Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 
		
	
	The following table shows the costs of the contracted out element only for the three years 200-07 to 2008-09. It is not possible to split out the costs for the Jobcentre Plus element from normal Jobcentre Plus running costs.
	
		
			  £ million 
			  Programme  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 New Deals for Young People and 25 Plus 306.5 398.3 424.8 
			 New Deal for Lone Parents 41.5 60.4 29.5 
			 New Deal 50 Plus 0.2 0.2 0.2 
			 New Deal for Disabled People 73 78.4 34.1 
			 New Deal for Partners 0.6 0.4 0.3 
			  Notes: 1. New Deal for Disabled People reductions in 2008-09 are due to the introduction of provider-led pathways in 60 per cent. of the country. 2. New Deal for Lone Parents reduction in 2008-09 are due to costs for In Work Credit being transferred from the DEL (Programme) account to Annually Managed Expenditure (AME). 3. Expenditure figures exclude administration costs as they cannot be identified since 2002-03, when ring fences were removed with agreement from HM Treasury. 4. The figures for 2008-09 are indicative pending scrutiny and sign-off by NAO. 5. The source of the above data is the DWP financial systems. Figures agree with those published in the departmental report.

Unemployment

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to page 37 of Building Britain's Future 
	(1)  what criteria will be used to designate the areas of high unemployment in which 50,000 new jobs will be provided;
	(2)  what level of recruitment subsidies will be provided to support access to jobs by adults who have been unemployed for six months; who will administer such subsidies; and for how long such subsidies will be paid.

Jim Knight: Those areas we have defined as areas of high unemployment are those where the rate of claimant unemployment is at least 1.5 percentage points above the national average.
	The recruitment subsidy is worth £1,000. Subsidised jobs have to be for a minimum of 16 hours a week and expected to last for at least six months. In England, the recruitment subsidy could also be combined with access to Train to Gain support, which is typically worth £1,500.
	The recruitment subsidy is administered by Jobcentre Plus.

Unemployment: Young People

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the Draft Legislative Programme 2009, Cm 7564, page 37, what her definition is of a guaranteed job which a person aged under 25 who has been unemployed for a year will be required to take up.

Jim Knight: The budget spoke of a guaranteed offer, one element of which is a job. The jobs consist of 150,000 new jobs created through the Future Jobs Fund and additionally up to 100,000 existing jobs in key employment sectors. These will be offered alongside work-focused training or meaningful activity via a community task force.

Young Persons' Guarantee

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate she has made of the cost to her Department of implementing the change in the Young Persons' Guarantee from a voluntary to a mandatory programme.

Jim Knight: In his 2009 Budget statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £1.1 billion for the delivery of the young persons guarantee and future jobs fund. Work is ongoing to determine the specific costs of each initiative under mandation, but we are confident they will be delivered from within the funding.

Young Persons' Guarantee

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate her Department has made of  (a) the number of young people aged 18 to 24 years who will reach 12 months claiming jobseeker's allowance,  (b) the number of young people aged 18 to 24 years who will receive assistance from the Young Persons' Guarantee and  (c) how much the Young Persons' Guarantee will cost to deliver in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11 and (iii) 2011-12.

Jim Knight: We do not forecast unemployment figures; however we will guarantee an offer for all 18 to 24-year-olds approaching 12 months on jobseeker's allowance.
	The young person's guarantee is funded until 2010-11. £250 million has been allocated for 2009-10 and £843 million for 2010-11.

Debt Collection

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 24 April 2009,  Official Report, column 958W, on debt collection, what assessment HM Courts Service made of the risk of persons in debt incurring further debts by charging bailiff payments to credit cards.

Bridget Prentice: The inclusion of credit card facilities extends the range of options available for payment. Payment routes available elsewhere were considered—there is precedent for the acceptance of credit and debit cards in other areas of public services. In addition, payment by credit card is already well established in many magistrates courts and all fixed penalty offices. Bailiffs operate under well-defined behaviour standards and there are no incentives to favour credit cards over the other current methods of repayment. There are a range of routes available to any debtor who genuinely cannot afford to pay. HM Courts Service is currently evaluating the scheme of taking payments by credit and debit cards. I am awaiting the results of the evaluation.

Driving under Influence: Convictions

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many  (a) men and  (b) women under the age of 18 were (i) proceeded against, (ii) found guilty and (iii) sentenced to immediate custody for offences of drink driving in each year since 1997;
	(2)  how many  (a) men and  (b) women have been (i) proceeded against, (ii) found guilty of and (iii) sentenced to immediate custody for a drink-driving offence in each year since 1997.

Claire Ward: Available information held on prosecutions and resultant convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol or taking drugs in England and Wales from 1997 to 2007 (latest available) are shown in the tables.
	The data provided covers both drink and drugs offences combined, as they cannot reliably be distinguished separately.
	Data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
	
		
			  Table 1: Proceedings at magistrates courts, findings of guilt at all courts, sentenced to immediate custody, by gender, for persons under the age of 18 years for 'driving after consuming alcohol or taking drugs', England and Wales 1997 to 2007( 1,2) 
			  Number of offences 
			  Offence type: driving etc. after consuming alcohol or taking drugs 
			   Under 18 years 
			   Male  Female 
			   Proceeded against  Findings of guilt  Immediate custody  Proceeded against  Findings of guilt  Immediate custody 
			 1997 1,729 1,571 126 99 92 0 
			 1998 1,637 1,494 112 107 95 2 
			 1999 1,801 1,617 134 77 71 0 
			 2000 1,860 1,668 117 80 73 1 
			 2001 2,073 1,843 119 85 81 0 
			 2002 2,066 1,825 118 115 104 0 
			 2003 2,170 1,936 107 114 106 0 
			 2004 1,952 1,801 101 132 121 1 
			 2005 1,804 1,647 82 123 113 1 
			 2006 1,714 1,608 59 143 132 1 
			 2007 1,586 1,473 56 130 121 0 
			 (1) It is known that for some police force areas the reporting of court proceedings, in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis unit, Ministry of Justice 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Proceedings at magistrates courts, findings of guilt at all courts, sentenced to immediate custody, by gender, for all persons for 'driving after consuming alcohol or taking drugs', England and Wales 1997 to 2007( 1,2) 
			  Number of offences 
			  Offence type: Driving etc. after consuming alcohol or taking drugs 
			   All ages 
			   Male  Female 
			   Proceeded against  Findings of guilt  Immediate custody  Proceeded against  Findings of guilt  Immediate custody 
			 1997 102,808 91,803 7,090 9,371 8,426 171 
			 1998 94,636 84,604 6,757 9,406 8,509 171 
			 1999 90,247 80,954 6,701 9,252 8,409 175 
			 2000 86,778 77,373 6,421 9,382 8,457 154 
			 2001 86,533 76,346 6,442 9,448 8,402 179 
			 2002 91,407 80,971 6,231 10,618 9,512 144 
			 2003 94,435 83,589 6,136 11,236 10,112 172 
			 2004 95,179 85,475 5,863 11,912 10,765 196 
			 2005 91,592 82,870 5,207 11,890 10,849 165 
			 2006 89,145 81,376 4,273 12,278 11,295 126 
			 2007 84,345 77,529 3,780 12,627 11,694 129 
			 (1) It is known that for some police force areas the reporting of court proceedings, in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis unit, Ministry of Justice

Drugs: Convictions

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been convicted of offences relating to the  (a) possession and  (b) supply of (i) cannabis and (ii) ecstasy in each year since 1997; and how many such people received (A) a custodial sentence and (B) the maximum sentence in each such year.

Claire Ward: The number of defendants found guilty at all courts for the possession and supply of cannabis and ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphetamine— MDMA), those sentenced to a custodial sentence and those receiving the maximum sentence, in England and Wales, from 1997 to 2007 (latest available) is shown in the following tables.
	The statistics given relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. For example, when a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
	Data for 2008 will be available in the autumn 2009.
	
		
			  Number of defendants found guilty at all courts and sentenced to immediate custody for possession and supply of cannabis and ecstasy in England and Wales, 1997 to 2007( 1, 2, 3) 
			   1997  1998  1999 
			Sentenced to:   Sentenced to:   Sentenced to: 
			   Found guilty  Immediate custody  Maximum custody  Found guilty  Immediate custody  Maximum custody  Found guilty  Immediate custody  Maximum custody 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug: MDMA 1,048 62 0 753 51 0 1,262 69 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply: MDMA 544 410 0 304 217 0 451 338 0 
			 Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug, (or being concerned in) MDMA 310 228 0 246 179 0 231 173 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug: Cannabis and cannabis resin 17,275 268 1 22,643 410 1 22,623 451 1 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply: Cannabis and cannabis resin 2,499 1,129 0 2,648 1,284 0 2,246 1,112 0 
			 Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug, (or being concerned in): Cannabis and cannabis 1,414 650 1 1,442 656 0 1,168 573 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug: MDMA 1,048 62 0 753 51 0 1,262 69 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply: MDMA 544 410 0 304 217 0 451 338 0 
			 Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug, (or being concerned in) MDMA 310 228 0 246 179 0 231 173 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug: Cannabis and cannabis resin 17,275 268 1 22,643 410 1 22,623 451 1 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply: Cannabis and cannabis resin 2,499 1,129 0 2,648 1,284 0 2,246 1,112 0 
			 Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug, (or being concerned in): Cannabis and cannabis resin 1,414 650 1 1,442 656 0 1,168 573 0 
		
	
	
		
			   2000  2001  2002 
			Sentenced to:   Sentenced to:   Sentenced to: 
			   Found guilty  Immediate custody  Maximum custody  Found guilty  Immediate custody  Maximum custody  Found guilty  Immediate custody  Maximum custody 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug: MDMA 1,955 108 0 2,493 151 0 2,165 100 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply: MDMA 736 520 0 960 690 0 830 578 0 
			 Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug, (or being concerned in) MDMA 327 234 0 376 252 0 365 216 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug: Cannabis and cannabis resin 20,602 361 0 20,752 290 1 23,655 241 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply: Cannabis and cannabis resin 1,802 808 0 1,358 618 0 1,388 547 0 
			 Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug, (or being concerned in): Cannabis and cannabis 842 405 0 613 265 0 592 258 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug: MDMA 1,955 108 0 2,493 151 0 2,165 100 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply: MDMA 736 520 0 960 690 0 830 578 0 
			 Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug, (or being concerned in) MDMA 327 234 0 376 252 0 365 216 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug: Cannabis and cannabis resin 20,602 361 0 20,752 290 1 23,655 241 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply: Cannabis and cannabis resin 1,802 808 0 1,358 618 0 1,388 547 0 
			 Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug, (or being concerned in): Cannabis and cannabis resin 842 405 0 613 265 0 592 258 0 
		
	
	
		
			   2003  2004  2005 
			Sentenced to:   Sentenced to:   Sentenced to: 
			   Found guilty  Immediate custody  Maximum custody  Found guilty  Immediate custody  Maximum custody  Found guilty  Immediate custody  Maximum custody 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug: MDMA 2,009 81 0 1,853 60 0 1,677 61 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply: MDMA 746 461 0 603 394 0 557 342 0 
			 Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug, (or being concerned in) MDMA 219 127 0 172 100 0 167 91 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug: Cannabis and cannabis resin 25,714 288 0 (4)13,320 (4)161 (5)2 12,095 136 5 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply: Cannabis and cannabis resin 1,470 475 0 1,247 420 0 993 272 0 
			 Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug, (or being concerned in): Cannabis and cannabis 522 222 0 456 156 0 393 135 0 
		
	
	
		
			   2006  2007 
			Sentenced to:   Sentenced to: 
			   Found guilty  Immediate custody  Maximum custody  Found guilty  Immediate custody  Maximum custody 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug: MDMA 1,539 62 0 1,590 70 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply: MDMA 434 256 0 513 276 0 
			 Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug, (or being concerned in) MDMA 169 81 0 169 73 0 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug: Cannabis and cannabis resin 12,536 141 2 14,073 162 6 
			 Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply: Cannabis and cannabis resin 957 240 0 958 232 0 
			 Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug, (or being concerned in): Cannabis and cannabis 385 101 0 367 101 0 
			 (1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that this data has been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) Staffordshire Police Force were only able to submit sample data for parsons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates' courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. (4) Cannabis was reclassified in January 2004 to a class C drug. Guidelines advised that offenders over the age of 18 could be given, for possession only, a "cannabis warning" which does not constitute a criminal record. (5) Following reclassification in January 2004 to a class C drug, statutory maximum penalty for possession of cannabis was downgraded from five to two years. The offenders shown here were sentenced to two years imprisonment although it is not known what maximum would have applied to these offenders on the day their offences took place.  Source:  Office for Criminal Justice Reform - Evidence and Analysis unit (OCJR-E&A).

Probation: Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what funding his Department allocated to the Essex Probation Service in each of the last five years.

Maria Eagle: The grant allocation to Essex probation area for the last five years is as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2008-09 20,147,200 
			 2007-08 19,091,300 
			 2006-07 18,322,200 
			 2005-06 16,923,000 
			 2004-05 15,494,300

Probation: Staffordshire

William Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the likely effects on levels of co-operation between the Probation Service and  (a) the police,  (b) HM Courts Service and  (c) the Crown Prosecution Service in the Staffordshire Probation Area of the proposed merger between Staffordshire Probation Service and West Midlands Probation Service;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the likely effects on the level of management at which decisions relating to the operation of the Probation Service in Staffordshire are taken of the proposed merger between Staffordshire Probation Service and West Midlands Probation Service;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the likely change in  (a) administrative and  (b) staffing costs of the probation service in Staffordshire consequent on the proposed merger between Staffordshire Probation Service and West Midlands Probation Service.

Maria Eagle: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Justice is aware of the proposed merger of the Staffordshire and West Midlands probation areas. A joint application is anticipated in July for trust status, although this may be delayed to later in the year.
	Any merger will require the continuation of very strong links with other criminal justice agencies, including the police, HM Courts Service and the Crown Prosecution Service. This will include continued active participation in the Staffordshire Local Criminal Justice Board public protection arrangements. The present chief probation officer for Staffordshire has met all the relevant agencies and explained the importance of local delivery and co-working in any trust arrangement. The proposed merger was discussed at the Staffordshire Criminal Justice Board meeting on the 28 April 2009 chaired by the then chief constable of Staffordshire Chris Sims. In a subsequent letter he said that members understood the merger and indicated strong support for the proposal based on local delivery units with devolved responsibilities. The Secretary of State will continue to require co-terminus arrangements to be maintained with Staffordshire criminal justice agencies, should a merger of Staffordshire and West Midlands probation areas be approved.
	The Secretary of State in approving any trust application needs to be assured that management is properly devolved to the level of local delivery units. In the case of Staffordshire these units will be aligned will Staffordshire county and Stoke on Trent. The Secretary of State would expect to see a trust appoint to such management units staff at assistant chief officer level who are both experienced and competent to oversee performance and partnership working. In addition there will be a single chief executive and chair of joint Staffordshire and West Midlands Board who will be responsible for ensuring performance across the trust and effective local partnership in all the local delivery units and to ensure the efficient and effective stewardship of public funds, working under a contract to the director of offender management for the West Midlands region.
	The Secretary of State has made it clear in statements and answers to previous questions that any proposals on probation trust arrangements should come from local areas and not be provided either regionally or nationally. Individual probation boards, including Staffordshire, would have to consider the merits of merger based on business cases that would address both administrative and staffing costs.
	As the Secretary of State has yet to receive an application for the trust status by the combined area it is not possible to make a detailed estimate of changes to both administrative and staffing costs. However, any such proposal would have to demonstrate that front line delivery of probation service duties and responsibilities to protect the public and reduce re-offending will be maintained whilst overheads, administration and management costs would be reviewed. No budgets have been allocated to Staffordshire or West Midlands probation areas for the period beyond March 2010.

Remand in Custody: Young People

Chris Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will commission research into the reasons for the reduction in the use of non-secure remand to local authority accommodation for those under the age of 18 years of age since 2000; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Eagle: Figures provided by the Youth Justice Board indicate that the peak year for remands of under-18s in the period in question was 2004-05. Between then and 2007-08, the total figure for remands of all kinds—secure and non-secure—fell by 33 per cent. Non-secure remands to local authority care fell by 36 per cent. The Youth Justice Board is monitoring these trends and is exploring ways of further incentivising local authorities to provide alternatives to custody.

Sentencing

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what percentage of people convicted of selling tobacco to a minor received  (a) a fine,  (b) a community sentence,  (c) a custodial sentence and  (d) an alternative punishment in each year since 1997; and what the (i) average, (ii) smallest and (iii) largest fine was in each such year.

Claire Ward: The available information is shown in the following table. Data for 2008 will not be available until "Sentencing Statistics 2008" is published later in the year.
	
		
			  Offenders sentenced and disposals for selling tobacco to a minor and the average maximum and minimum fine, 1997 to 2007 
			   1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 Fine (number) 90 115 90 113 74 67 82 50 56 51 49 
			 Fine (percentage) 80.4 89.1 88 2 84.3 82.2 87.0 88.2 87.7 81.2 89.5 98.0 
			 
			 Community Sentence (number) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Community Sentence (percentage) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 
			 Custodial Sentence (number) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Custodial Sentence (percentage) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 
			 Discharge (number) 22 14 12 21 16 9 11 7 13 5 1 
			 Discharge (percentage) 19.6 10.9 11.8 15.7 17.8 11.7 11.8 12.3 18.8 8.8 2.0 
			 
			 Otherwise Dealt With (number) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 
			 Otherwise Dealt With (percentage) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.8 0.0 
			 Total 112 129 102 134 90 77 93 57 69 57 50 
			 
			 Maximum Fine (£) 1,250 2,000 1,500 2,000 2,000 2,000 1,700 1,500 2,000 1,650 2,500 
			 Minimum Fine (£) 40 10 10 50 50 50 50 35 30 40 60 
			 Average (£) 238 226 237 349 301 283 322 274 328 330 324 
			  Notes: 1. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. 2. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.  Source: OMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice. 
		
	
	The table shows the total number of persons sentenced to a fine, community sentence, custodial sentence or an alternative punishment for each year since 1997. The data also shows the average maximum and minimum fine imposed on those sentenced for selling tobacco to a minor in each year. This data is presented on the principal offence basis. Where an offender has been sentenced for more than one offence, the principal offence is the one for which the heaviest sentence was imposed. Where the same sentence has been imposed for two or more offences, the principal offence is the one for which the statutory maximum is most severe.

Belarus: Human Rights

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 23 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 20-21W, on Belarus: human rights, what reports he has received of the death sentence passed in Belarus on 29 June 2009; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Bryant: The EU raised this case with the Belarusian authorities on 8 July 2009. We are disappointed that the death penalty was imposed following earlier efforts by the Belarusian authorities to reduce its use. Belarus is the last country in Europe to use the death penalty; its abolition would be an important step in improving EU—Belarus relations. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe passed a resolution on 23 June 2009 supporting the lifting of the suspension of Belarus' special guest status after a moratorium on the execution of death penalties.

Colombia: Overseas Aid

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the Written Ministerial Statement of 30 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 40-42WS, on Colombia, on what projects the £250,000 which has been allocated to tackle impunity will be spent; and how much will be allocated to each such project.

Chris Bryant: Tackling impunity in Colombia is a priority for our embassy in Bogota, and over £250,000 will be spent over the next two years on the following projects:
	investigating forced disappearances (£13,000)
	identifying victims of forced disappearance (£39,000)
	strengthening access to justice for internally displaced persons (£21,000)
	Impunity in the Context of Conflict project (£60,000)
	a UN Tackling Impunity project (£210,000)
	adjustment proposals for the new Accusatorial Criminal Justice System (£29,000)

Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress the Government has made in its assessment of whether to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Ivan Lewis: The work being undertaken within Government to examine the potential impact of the Convention against Enforced Disappearance on the law of the UK is ongoing.
	This includes analysing the extent to which common law provisions may need to be replicated in statute law, the creation of one or more new criminal offences, and whether the UK required any reservations or declarations upon ratification. It is now clear that primary legislation would be necessary to permit ratification if the Government decide to pursue this course of action. This would be introduced when parliamentary time allowed.

Council of Ministers

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on how many occasions the Government has  (a) voted against and  (b) abstained on a proposal at the Council of Ministers for which a qualified majority has been obtained.

Chris Bryant: The Council of the European Union publicises these figures on their website. These can be found at:
	http://www.consilium.europa.eu/showPage.aspx?id=551&lang=EN
	The figures for 2008 are eight abstentions and zero votes against. The same report shows that 270 legislative acts were adopted in 2008.

Diplomatic Service: Finance

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost to the public purse of his Department's consular services was in each of the last 12 years.

Chris Bryant: Consular Services are funded from fees and not from general taxation. Our aim is to ensure that we cover our costs from fee income. The exception is capital funds which are funded from tax. However the yearly cost of capital, that is depreciation and interest, is covered by fee income.
	Cost of assistance to UK citizens abroad is covered by a levy of approx. £15 on all passports sold in the UK by the Identity and Passport Service and overseas by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). For around £1.50 a year, every British passport holder has at their disposal a global network of professionals who often provide the first line of support when things go wrong.
	Each crisis response, as agreed by HM Treasury (HMT), which costs greater than £150,000, is funded from the Emergency Disaster Reserve (EDR). The EDR funds are made up of a small fee levied on the passport price of approximately £1. These funds are held by the Treasury. The FCO has to make a substantive case to HMT to access these funds.
	For a fee we also issue passports overseas, as well as emergency and temporary passports.
	We charge for legalisation services to business and the public in the UK and overseas.
	There are another 60 notarial services that we provide overseas. Examples include birth and death registrations.
	The cost of Consular Services for the last eight years is shown as follows. The cost of collecting data beyond this period would be prohibitive, as it is not available on our current systems.
	This excludes the cost of crisis activity which is funded directly from the Treasury:
	
		
			  Period  Cost (£ million) 
			 2008-09 126.4 
			 2007-08 123.3 
			 2006-07 104.1 
			 2005-06 85.1 
			 2004-05 93.3 
			 2003-04 69.9 
			 2002-03 60.6 
			 2001-02 56.3 
		
	
	Consular is continually looking at ways to bring costs into closer alignment with income by delivering value-for money services, promoting efficiencies and reviewing its fees.

Eritrea: Prisoners

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to the Eritrean government on arrests of UK nationals in Eritrea; and how many such people have been arrested there in the last five years.

Ivan Lewis: From our consular records we are aware of four British nationals who have been arrested or detained in Eritrea since 2004.
	In one case we were informed of the detention only after the individual had been released. In the other three cases we contacted the authorities to clarify the situation and requested consular access.
	Of those three cases, two were subsequently released. We have been unable to confirm the release of the other individual, as the Eritrean authorities do not acknowledge the UK's interest in the person concerned (a dual British-Eritrean national resident in Eritrea) as a British national, and will not discuss the case with consular staff, despite representations.

India

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will take steps to assist the Indian government in implementing witness protection programmes for Christians in Orissa.

Ivan Lewis: We have no plans to discuss with the Indian Government the protection of Christians called as witnesses in trials relating to the recent violence in Orissa.
	The EU maintains a constructive dialogue with the Indian authorities about human rights and minority rights issues, which includes the situation in Orissa and its neighbouring states following the violence in 2008. Officials from our high commission have an active part in these discussions.

India: Christianity

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the government of India to urge that Mr Manoj Pradhan, Member of the Legislative Assembly in Orissa, is brought to trial on the charges which have been made against him.

Ivan Lewis: Since this is a legal matter for the relevant Indian authorities we have no plans to raise this bilaterally with the Indian government.

International Trade

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the UK's business competitiveness in international markets in each of the last three years; and against which competitors each assessment was made.

Chris Bryant: holding answer 3 July 2009
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Ian Lucas, on 13 July 2009,  Official Report, column 190-91W.

Israel: Egypt

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to the government of  (a) Israel and  (b) Egypt on the transport of goods into Gaza through crossing points.

Ivan Lewis: The UK is extremely concerned with the current humanitarian situation in Gaza. It is vital that aid reaches the people in who need it. We will continue to press the Israeli Government into easing border restrictions and ensuring there is better humanitarian access into the area. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary made this clear in his meeting with the Israeli Defence Minister—Ehud Barak on 6 July 2009 and also in his conversation with Israeli Foreign Minister—Avigdor Lieberman on 30 June 2009.
	My predecessor Bill Rammell raised the issue of access through the Rafah crossing for humanitarian aid providers with the Egyptian Government when he was in Egypt on 21 May 2009. The Egyptian Government have told us that all aid to Gaza from Egypt should be channelled through the Egyptian Red Crescent.

Kenya

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will instigate a public inquiry into the conduct of the British colonial administration in Kenya during the 1950s emergency in that country; what recent representations his Department has received on the treatment of Kenyans by the British colonial administration in this period from  (a) (i) governments and (ii) citizens of Kenya and  (b) others; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: There is no public inquiry planned into the conduct of the British colonial administration in Kenya during the 1950s.
	We are aware that a group of Mau Mau veterans, backed by the Kenya Human Rights Commission, plan to sue the Government for alleged human rights abuses carried out by the Kenyan colonial administration during the emergency period. Our high commissioner in Nairobi met their representatives before they travelled to London last month and noted their right to take their case to the courts. They have also written to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on this issue.

Employment: North East

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  how many people in  (a) Jarrow constituency,  (b) South Tyneside and  (c) the North East have claimed jobseeker's allowance in each year since 1997;
	(2)  how many people have been unemployed for  (a) up to six months,  (b) between six and 12 months and  (c) 12 months and over in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside and (iii) the North East in each year since 1997;
	(3)  how many people were in  (a) part-time and  (b) temporary work in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside and (iii) the North East in each year since 1997;
	(4)  how many people were self-employed in  (a) Jarrow constituency,  (b) South Tyneside and  (c) the North East in each year since 1997.

Angela Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated July 2009:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions asking how may people have claimed jobseeker's allowance in (a) Jarrow constituency (b) South Tyneside and (c) the North East in each year since 1997; how many people have been unemployed for (a) up to six months, (b) between six and 12 months and (c) 12 months and over in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside and (iii) the Norm East in each year since 1997; how many people have been in (a) part-time and (b) temporary work in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside and (iii) the North East in each year since 1997; and how many people have been self-employed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside and (c) the North East in each year since 1997.(286607,286340,286341,286342)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles labour market statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS) and its predecessor the Annual Labour Force Survey (LFS). The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance is compiled for Jobcentre Plus administrative data.
	Table 1 shows the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance resident in the requested geographies for June of each year since 1997. The latest data for May 2009 has also been provided.
	Table 2 shows the number of people unemployed by the duration of unemployment resident in the North East. Estimates for Jarrow parliamentary constituency and South Tyneside are not available. Estimates are also not available for the 12 month period ending February 1998.
	Table 3 shows the number of people in part-time and temporary work resident in the requested geographies. Estimates of temporary workers for the Jarrow parliamentary constituency are not available. Estimates of temporary workers are also not available for the 12 month period ending February 1998.
	Table 4 shows the number of self-employed people resident in the requested geographies in each year.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment and unemployment are available from the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk.
	
		
			  Table 1: The number of people claiming Jobseekers' Allowance resident in Jarrow constituency, South Tyneside and the North East 
			  Thousand 
			   Jarrow  South Tyneside  North East 
			 June 1997 3 7 91 
			 June 1998 3 6 81 
			 June 1999 3 7 80 
			 June 2000 3 6 72 
			 June 2001 2 5 61 
			 June 2002 2 5 58 
			 June 2003 2 4 53 
			 June 2004 2 4 45 
			 June 2005 2 4 45 
			 June 2006 2 4 50 
			 June 2007 2 4 48 
			 June 2008 2 4 49 
			 May 2009 3 7 86 
			  Source: Jobcentre Plus administrative system 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: The number of people unemployed by duration of unemployment resident in the North East 
			  Thousand 
			  12 months ending  Less than 6 months  6 months to less than 12 months  12 months or more 
			 February 1998 — — — 
			 February 1999 47 14 33 
			 February 2000 53 22 33 
			 February 2001 47 16 28 
			 February 2002 46 14 25 
			 February 2003 44 12 21 
			 February 2004 50 10 18 
			 December 2004 44 10 16 
			 December 2005 42 11 16 
			 December 2006 50 14 21 
			 December 2007 44 13 19 
			 December 2008(1) *56 **15 **23 
			 '—' = not available (1) Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality below.  Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220.  Key Coefficient of Variation (CV)(%) Statistical Robustness * 0 = CV[le] 5 Estimates are considered precise ** 5 = CV[le] 10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 = CV[le] 20 Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes It should be noted that the above estimates exclude people in most types of communal establishment (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites etc.)  Source: Annual Population Survey/Annual Labour Force Survey 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: The number of people in part-time and temporary work resident in Jarrow constituency, South Tyneside and the North East 
			  Thousand 
			   Jarrow  South Tyneside  North East 
			  12 months ending  Part-time  Temporary work  Part-time  Temporary work  Part-time  Temporary work 
			 February 1998 11 — 18 — 281 — 
			 February 1999 9 — 15 5 270 79 
			 February 2000 9 — 15 5 286 76 
			 February 2001 9 — 16 4 278 80 
			 February 2002 10 — 18 5 276 78 
			 February 2003 9 — 16 5 277 71 
			 February 2004 9 — 16 5 279 65 
			 December 2004 7 — 13 4 284 58 
			 December 2005 8 — 16 4 293 54 
			 December 2006 9 — 15 4 285 67 
			 December 2007 10 — 18 4 297 67 
			 December 2008(1) ***8 ****— **15 ***4 *288 *63 
			 '—' = not available (1) Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality below.  Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220.  Key Coefficient of Variation (CV)(%) Statistical Robustness * 0 = CV[le] 5 Estimates are considered precise ** 5 = CV[le] 10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 = CV[le] 20 Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes It should be noted that the above estimates exclude people in most types of communal establishment (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites etc.)  Source: Annual Population Survey/Annual Labour Force Survey 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 4: The number of people self employed resident in Jarrow constituency, South Tyneside and the North East 
			  Thousand 
			  12 months ending  Jarrow  South Tyneside  North East 
			 February 1998 3 5 97 
			 February 1999 3 5 100 
			 February 2000 2 5 99 
			 February 2001 2 4 92 
			 February 2002 2 5 82 
			 February 2003 2 4 89 
			 February 2004 2 4 89 
			 December 2004 2 4 95 
			 December 2005 3 5 105 
			 December 2006 2 5 103 
			 December 2007 4 6 107 
			 December 2008(1) ***4 ***6 *112 
			 (1) Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality below.  Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220.  Key Coefficient of Variation (CV)(%) Statistical Robustness * 0 = CV[le] 5 Estimates are considered precise ** 5 = CV[le] 10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 = CV[le] 20 Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes It should be noted that the above estimates exclude people in most types of communal establishment (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites etc.)  Source: Annual Population Survey/Annual Labour Force Survey

Government Departments: Recruitment

Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent steps her Department has taken to ensure that recruitment agencies which advertise vacancies on behalf of the Government do not require candidates to have obtained security clearance to obtain an interview.

Tessa Jowell: It is government policy that an existing security clearance should not be specified as a pre-requisite for recruitment, except in certain defined circumstances. The Cabinet Office has regular contact with the Recruitment and Employers Confederation and the Association of Professional Staffing Companies to ensure that its membership, which includes recruitment agencies, is aware of the policy.

Academies

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will assess the effect of policies on  (a) diplomas and  (b) academies on (i) local democratic accountability of the education system and (ii) levels of educational inequality.

Vernon Coaker: We are currently still in the first year of diploma teaching so it is too early to assess its impact on local accountability. Each Diploma line of learning will be evaluated for the first three years after roll out and we will analyse the findings of the evaluation to ensure the implementation is having a positive impact on the education system.
	One of the main aims of Diplomas is to widen educational participation among young people. Data on the types of learners taking up Diploma places will be available for analysis later this year, and this will help us to identify and address any areas of inequality.
	With regards to academies and local accountability, all academies must have a local authority governor and a parent governor. Governing bodies are bound by law to act in the best interest of the academy, its pupils and the local community. They must set out their proposals for working with other schools and the wider community in their annual development plan. All academies are inspected by Ofsted on the same basis as other schools, and their results are published along with all maintained schools.
	A major goal of the academies programme is to tackle educational inequality and there are a number of measures that guarantee this is achieved. To ensure a fair admissions process, academies, like maintained schools, are required to follow the School Admissions Code. The independent PricewaterhouseCoopers evaluation said that there was no evidence that academies have a negative impact on neighbouring schools in terms of pupil profile and therefore not created any inequalities.
	The School Census shows that the proportion of pupils with special education needs (with and without statements) in academies is 29.5 per cent.—compared to an average of 19.2 per cent. for all schools. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals in academies is 33.8 per cent.—compared to an average of 14.4 per cent. for maintained secondary schools. Between 2007 and 2008 the rate of improvement for pupils gaining 5 A*-C grades (including English and maths) that attend academies and are eligible for free school meals has been double the national improvement rate, 5.3 percentage points compared to 2.4 percentage points.

Building Schools for the Future Programme

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with reference to paragraph 14, page 8 of the National Audit Office report on Financial management in the Department for Children, Schools and Families, HC 267, Session 2008-09, for what reasons the Building Schools for the Future programme has an under spend of £2.4 billion.

Vernon Coaker: There are three key reasons for the delays in some of the early local authority Building Schools for the Future (BSF) projects which caused an underspend:
	the original expectations of project completion dates were over-optimistic, given the scale of the programme and the aspiration of achieving a step-change in educational outcomes from the capital investment;
	many local authorities in the early waves of BSF found identifying and resourcing the necessary project management skill sets to deliver the programme more challenging than expected;
	many of the local authorities selected for the early waves of BSF also had the biggest challenges to manage, were pioneering the processes, and were at the forefront of resolving unexpected difficulties with innovative solutions.
	Current plans indicate that all funds made available to the BSF programme since 2005 will have been allocated to projects by March 2011.

Further Education

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment he has made of the relevance of diploma qualifications to the needs of employers; and what steps he is taking to take employers' views into account when revising the content and structure of diplomas.

Iain Wright: Diplomas were created through consultation with over 5,000 employers, and employers lead the Diploma Development Partnerships responsible for developing Diploma content. We have a network of over 100 Diploma Employer Champions who support Diplomas and act as champions for them in their sectors. Many employers are actively engaging in the delivery of diplomas, working directly with schools and colleges in their local areas, reinforcing the principle that Diplomas are applied learning in the workplace. The Employer Task Force, which will be launched in the autumn, will provide further opportunities for employers to become involved with diploma delivery.
	We are still in the first year of teaching of the Diploma and so have no plans to revise content and structure. We are evaluating the first three years of delivery for each of the four phases of Diplomas and this will include an evaluation of employer involvement.

Higher Education: Finance

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much mainstream grant funding was allocated by the Training and Development Agency for Schools to  (a) the University of York and  (b) York St. John University in (i) 1996-97 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available.

Vernon Coaker: The recurrent mainstream funding amounts allocated by the Training and Development Agency for schools for academic years 1996/97 and 2009/10 are as follows:
	
		
			   Funding (£) 
			  University of York  
			 1996/97 471,263 
			 2009/10 778,880 
			   
			  York St. John University  
			 1996/97 2,168,728 
			 2009/10 3,773,560 
		
	
	These figures exclude grant allocated to cover student support costs and employment-based initial teacher training provision.

Play: Finance

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding each local authority in Greater Manchester awarded funding under the National Play Strategy in December 2008 has received to date; and how much on average each local authority in England was awarded under the National Play Strategy in December 2008.

Vernon Coaker: Following the commitments made in the Children's Plan in 2007 and the national Play Strategy in 2008, every top-tier local authority in England will receive either play pathfinder or playbuilder funding between 2008-11 through the play capital investment programme.
	Of the 152 top-tier local authorities, 30 are play pathfinder authorities and the remaining 122 local authorities are all playbuilder authorities. On average, every play pathfinder authority will receive around £2 million capital funding and £500,000 revenue funding, while playbuilder authorities will receive around £1 million capital and £45,000 revenue funding, over the current spending period 2008-09 to 2010-11. Play pathfinder authorities will use their allocated funding to deliver a minimum of 28 play areas plus a new staffed adventure playground, while playbuilder authorities will deliver a minimum of 22 play areas by 2011. The play areas that are delivered can be either completely new areas or existing areas which are significantly refurbished.
	Local authorities have joined the programme, and so started receiving their funding, in two phases: wave 1 started in April 2008 and wave 2 in April 2009. Bolton, Bury, Rochdale and Tameside are all wave 1 authorities, while the other six authorities in the Greater Manchester area (City of Manchester, Oldham, Salford, Stockport, Trafford and Wigan) joined the programme in April 2009. Of these, 10 local authorities, both Rochdale and Wigan are play pathfinders, while the others are all playbuilder authorities.
	The following tables show the capital and revenue funding allocated to Greater Manchester authorities and the phase they each joined the capital play programme. Allocations for 2010-11 are indicative and will be confirmed in February 2010.
	Decisions on where the capital funding is spent within local authority boundaries are taken locally, based on grant requirements around improved play spaces being provided where they are most needed and based on a robust consultation process with local children and young people, families and wider communities.
	We are encouraging all Members of Parliament to proactively engage with their local play capital programmes as they roll out, and we are asking local authorities to ensure that their local Members of Parliament and council elected members are appropriately consulted, and briefed, about where the capital funding is spent.
	
		
			  Wave 1 authorities 
			  £ 
			   Capital funding  Revenue funding 
			  Local authority  2008-09  2009-10  2010-11  2008-09  2009-10  2010-11 
			 Bolton 351,984 390,628 440,319 12,662 19,912 13,274 
			 Bury 293,307 389,180 438,686 12,465 19,646 13,097 
			 Rochdale 595,624 1,573,332 n/a(1) 139,346 218,794 145,863 
			 Tameside 298,756 388,987 438,469 12,606 19,802 13,202 
			 (1) Wave 1 play pathfinder authorities receive capital funding in 2008-09 and 2009-10 only. 
		
	
	
		
			  Wave 2 authorities 
			  £ 
			   Capital funding  Revenue funding 
			  Local authority  2009-10  2010-11  2009-10  2010-11 
			 City of Manchester 539,934 608,617 27,663 18,442 
			 Oldham 532,243 599,948 27,618 18,412 
			 Salford 531,457 599,062 27,561 18,374 
			 Stockport 526,916 593,944 26,991 17,994 
			 Trafford 526,656 593,650 26,985 17,990 
			 Wigan 1,117,998 1,011,522 297,747 198,498

Playgrounds: Hertfordshire

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what funding his Department has provided for the enhancement of public play facilities in  (a) Hemel Hempstead constituency,  (b) Dacorum and  (c) Hertfordshire in the last 12 months.

Dawn Primarolo: Following the commitments made in the Children's Plan in 2007 and the national Play strategy in 2008, every top tier local authority in England will receive either play pathfinder or playbuilder funding between 2008-11 through the play capital investment programme.
	On average all play pathfinder authorities will receive around £2 million capital funding and £500,000 revenue funding, while playbuilder authorities will receive around £1 million capital and £45,000 revenue funding. Play pathfinder authorities will use their allocated funding to deliver a minimum of 28 play areas plus a new staffed adventure playground, while playbuilder authorities will deliver a minimum of 22 play areas by 2011. The play areas that are delivered can be either completely new areas or existing areas which are significantly refurbished.
	Local authorities have joined the programme, and so started receiving their funding, in two phases: Wave 1 started in April 2008 and Wave 2 in April 2009. Hertfordshire is a Wave 2 playbuilder authority and will receive capital funding of £541,001 in 2009-10 and £609,820 in 2010-11 and revenue funding of £27,633 in 2009-10 and £18,422 in 2010-11. Allocations for 2010-11 are indicative and will be confirmed in February 2010.
	Decisions on where the capital funding is spent within local authority boundaries are taken locally, based on grant requirements around improved play spaces being provided where they are most needed and based on a robust consultation process with local children and young people, families and wider communities.
	We are encouraging all members of parliament to proactively engage with their local play capital programmes as they roll out, and we are asking local authorities to ensure that their local members of parliament and council elected members are appropriately consulted, and briefed, about where the capital funding is spent.

Primary Education: Finance

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what funds have been allocated to the Primary Capital Programme for the financial year  (a) 2009-10 and  (b) 2010-11.

Vernon Coaker: Taking into account the adjustments made following requests by some local authorities to bring forward funding in support of the Government's fiscal stimulus measures, the breakdown of funding allocated to support delivery of the programme nationally is:
	 (a) 2009-10: £757 million;
	 (b) 2010-11: £893 million.

Religion: Education

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how the £1 million spent by his Department on strengthening the teaching of  (a) religious education and  (b) identity and diversity has been allocated.

Diana Johnson: The £1 million announced in January 2008 was to be spent specifically on the Religious Education Action Plan and not on the identity and diversity strand which falls within Citizenship Education. The money has been allocated as follows:
	
		
			  Item  2008-11 (£) 
			 1. RE Partnership support 120,000 
			 2. Updating and disseminating the existing guidance on RE 60,000 
			 3. National programme of recruitment and training for local Standing Advisory Councils on RE 100,000 
			 4. Support to National Association of Teachers of RE 240,000 
			 5. Continuing Professional Development Handbook for RE 100,000 
			 6. Review of materials used in schools to teach world religions and their contribution to community cohesion 300,000 
			 7. DCSF/REC Adviser 40,000 
			 Total 960,000

Schools

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  with reference to his Department's publication, Your child, your schools, our future, how many and what proportion of the case studies were assessed against a control group;
	(2)  if he will place in the Library a copy of the quantitative analysis of data used in each of the case studies.

Vernon Coaker: The case studies used in the recent White Paper—Your child, your schools, our future: building a 21st century schools system—are intended as individual examples of good practice from a range of partners and sources. They illustrate proposals within the document and support understanding through using real contexts. In using such cases, we did not consider it necessary to have a control group or to collect a full quantitative analysis of data.

Schools: Finance

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effect on  (a) the renewal of the primary school estate and modernising school infrastructure,  (b) the number of secondary school classrooms adapted to improve personalised learning,  (c) the number of schools receiving energy-saving measures,  (d) the number of kitchens built in primary schools and  (e) the number of rooms in primary schools converted for mother-and-baby groups and other community uses of the £800 million funding for priority schools capital programmes, brought forward from 2010-11 to 2009-10 and 2008-09; and how much of the funding has been spent in each month since it was announced.

Vernon Coaker: The fiscal stimulus initiative allowed local authorities and schools to bring forward some of their capital allocations from 2010-11 into 2009-10. The programmes affected are: Modernisation for schools; the Locally Co-ordinated Voluntarily Aided Programme (LCVAP); Primary Capital Programme; the Targeted Capital Fund for 14-19, special educational needs and disabilities; devolved formula capital which is paid directly to schools; and children's play areas. The final overall amount brought forward was £969 million. Information on how much of the overall allocations have been invested to date, and the impact of the investment, is held locally. The Department will be carrying out a survey later this year to determine whether or not the funds are on track to be invested during the 2009-10 spending period.

Schools: Finance

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with reference to paragraph 6.14, page 120, of Budget 2009, what information his Department holds on the priority schools capital programme; and what funding his Department has allocated to the programme in financial years  (a) 2009-10 and  (b) 2010-11.

Vernon Coaker: The fiscal stimulus initiative allowed local authorities and schools to bring forward some of their capital allocations from 2010-11 into 2009-10. This involved allocations in existing programmes announced in the comprehensive spending review 2007, but allowed for significant investment to be made earlier than had previously been anticipated. Priorities for investment on these programmes are decided and held locally. Overall, the final amount planned to be brought forward was £969 million. This can be broken down as follows:
	
		
			  Programme  £m 
			 Modernisation for schools 240 
			 Locally Co-ordinated Voluntarily Aided Programme (LCVAP) 51 
			 Primary Capital Programme 107 
			 Targeted Capital Fund for 14 to 19, special educational needs and disabilities 151 
			 Devolved Formula Capital (paid directly to schools) 390 
			 Children's play areas 30

Schools: Finance

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding has been allocated to each local authority through the dedicated schools grant in each year since its introduction.

Vernon Coaker: The following table shows the Dedicated Schools Grant allocations made to each local authority in each year since the grant began in 2006-07. Local authorities with schools that have converted into academies may see a reduction in their allocation in the year of conversion. Academies receive their funding direct from the Department, not through local authorities.
	
		
			  Dedicated schools grant allocations by local authority 
			   £ million 
			   2006-2007  2007-2008  2008-2009  2009-2010 
			 Barking and Dagenham 119,913 129,088 135,488 142,933 
			 Barnet 173,792 185,129 195,074 202,138 
			 Barnsley 115,173 120,431 123,795 126,271 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 84,534 89,117 92,611 95,332 
			 Bedford Borough(1) n/a n/a n/a 92,190 
			 Bedfordshire(1) 204,772 218,084 227,692 n/a 
			 Bexley 137,002 144,800 149,304 153,030 
			 Birmingham 677,576 721,735 747,609 768,202 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 97,105 102,346 103,829 105,268 
			 Blackpool 76,268 80,419 82,572 84,223 
			 Bolton 156,361 165,865 171,002 171,193 
			 Bournemouth 69,596 73,397 76,431 79,039 
			 Bracknell Forest 52,899 56,717 59,691 61,973 
			 Bradford 291,773 312,002 326,808 336,624 
			 Brent 159,124 173,854 185,106 189,555 
			 Brighton and Hove 108,502 117,598 122,581 127,734 
			 Bristol, City of 180,667 188,615 189,531 192,264 
			 Bromley 156,417 165,628 172,412 179,400 
			 Buckinghamshire 248,999 263,650 275,335 283,256 
			 Bury 99,393 105,016 108,677 112,108 
			 Calderdale 113,764 120,468 126,007 130,646 
			 Cambridgeshire 266,456 282,595 295,795 306,375 
			 Camden 110,974 118,313 122,965 128,449 
			 Central Bedfordshire(1) n/a n/a n/a 142,303 
			 Cheshire East(1) n/a n/a n/a 193,298 
			 Cheshire West and Chester(1) n/a n/a n/a 185,655 
			 Cheshire(1) 346,727 362,566 374,100 n/a 
			 City of London 1,664 1,755 1,801 1,962 
			 Cornwall 240,785 254,078 261,827 268,681 
			 Coventry 170,628 181,098 186,193 191,900 
			 Croydon 186,482 196,967 200,839 198,608 
			 Cumbria 246,418 258,946 258,775 256,931 
			 Darlington 53,941 55,815 56,354 58,539 
			 Derby 130,521 138,746 142,955 147,844 
			 Derbyshire 376,114 393,943 406,793 414,929 
			 Devon 317,668 335,278 348,214 359,179 
			 Doncaster 158,019 165,419 169,984 169,167 
			 Dorset 183,557 194,215 200,381 205,848 
			 Dudley 173,955 183,146 188,303 189,779 
			 Durham 255,591 267,453 274,436 279,925 
			 Ealing 170,813 185,023 194,006 203,109 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 158,009 166,529 171,844 176,037 
			 East Sussex 237,085 249,423 257,367 266,665 
			 Enfield 186,575 200,393 208,807 213,515 
			 Essex 694,378 733,245 754,995 758,957 
			 Gateshead 95,668 100,182 102,678 105,114 
			 Gloucestershire 279,957 294,472 306,234 315,166 
			 Greenwich 157,469 168,777 174,442 180,449 
			 Hackney 140,069 146,998 149,967 155,005 
			 Halton 71,796 75,565 77,959 79,697 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 78,825 82,175 84,626 88,462 
			 Hampshire 614,145 647,530 671,582 692,510 
			 Haringey 144,409 154,297 159,997 164,501 
			 Harrow 119,052 127,092 132,762 137,487 
			 Hartlepool 54,528 57,377 58,525 59,700 
			 Havering 133,791 141,743 147,407 153,255 
			 Herefordshire 78,151 82,535 83,612 84,519 
			 Hertfordshire 565,275 597,715 621,928 642,065 
			 Hillingdon 148,435 158,427 165,328 173,418 
			 Hounslow 134,705 145,398 151,628 158,126 
			 Isle of Wight 67,779 70,911 72,708 74,162 
			 Islington 116,438 123,028 123,100 125,434 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 56,218 60,141 62,106 64,209 
			 Kent 718,205 751,848 773,916 791,332 
			 Kingston Upon Hull, City of 140,699 146,437 147,321 146,344 
			 Kingston upon Thames 73,799 78,402 81,983 86,488 
			 Kirklees 219,243 232,480 241,262 249,965 
			 Knowsley 91,218 94,867 96,764 98,699 
			 Lambeth 147,071 159,303 169,053 177,221 
			 Lancashire 606,865 634,956 649,351 659,577 
			 Leeds 363,869 380,882 393,272 400,686 
			 Leicester 169,484 181,366 188,698 195,111 
			 Leicestershire 298,047 313,502 325,362 336,061 
			 Lewisham 161,465 168,579 172,420 178,216 
			 Lincolnshire 338,012 358,304 364,139 363,492 
			 Liverpool 251,480 259,778 264,974 270,273 
			 Luton 121,890 126,431 130,118 136,270 
			 Manchester 257,322 272,581 281,132 280,993 
			 Medway 152,202 159,669 163,836 165,319 
			 Merton 87,087 90,758 94,740 99,162 
			 Middlesbrough 72,479 75,378 76,886 79,098 
			 Milton Keynes 128,460 138,853 148,576 153,392 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 127,051 134,112 135,613 136,846 
			 Newham 215,377 231,764 242,480 252,635 
			 Norfolk 376,695 397,879 411,575 419,678 
			 North East Lincolnshire 93,904 92,859 91,129 92,952 
			 North Lincolnshire 84,891 89,525 90,944 92,380 
			 North Somerset 93,147 99,681 104,432 108,003 
			 North Tyneside 96,832 101,636 104,674 107,062 
			 North Yorkshire 285,994 299,913 310,692 318,209 
			 Northamptonshire 338,390 358,440 373,030 376,256 
			 Northumberland 151,545 159,219 164,015 160,909 
			 Nottingham 145,958 154,697 159,276 156,735 
			 Nottinghamshire 384,033 407,619 417,331 426,150 
			 Oldham 143,869 152.671 159,029 164,960 
			 Oxfordshire 283,527 299,770 308,546 321,677 
			 Peterborough 104,111 106,402 108,744 111,818 
			 Plymouth 127,125 132,906 136,886 140,166 
			 Poole 61,136 64,386 66,954 69,013 
			 Portsmouth 92,454 97,702 99,832 100,010 
			 Reading 59,511 63,316 66,419 69,940 
			 Redbridge 151,437 164,405 173,785 184,212 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 81,483 85,036 86,737 88,472 
			 Richmond upon Thames 80,464 85,924 91,127 95,057 
			 Rochdale 127,281 132,078 134,857 138,438 
			 Rotherham 155,011 163,114 167,663 170,154 
			 Rutland 17,936 18,692 19,753 20,582 
			 Salford 122,025 126,906 127,960 130,545 
			 Sandwell 177,873 185,354 185,455 186,752 
			 Sefton 148,611 154,555 157,646 160,799 
			 Sheffield 252,981 264,759 274,119 281,394 
			 Shropshire 133,468 139,256 143,866 147,176 
			 Slough 75,633 83,187 87,374 91,456 
			 Solihull 113,614 117,293 122,228 123,788 
			 Somerset 241,427 253,489 262,927 268,946 
			 South Gloucestershire 127,610 134,738 139,155 136,125 
			 South Tyneside 82,607 85,998 87,718 89,472 
			 Southampton 106,923 112,679 111,002 112,163 
			 Southend-on-Sea 93,734 98,970 102,523 105,405 
			 Southwark 167,665 166,425 164,714 168,332 
			 St. Helens 96,075 100,344 102,539 104,590 
			 Staffordshire 410,246 428,460 442,408 452,378 
			 Stockport 141,421 145,810 149,416 152,404 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 102,936 108,129 110,984 113,204 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 128,578 134,987 138,998 142,287 
			 Suffolk 325,258 343,156 356,069 364,796 
			 Sunderland 152,385 158,576 158,861 156,251 
			 Surrey 496,045 528,566 553,065 574,114 
			 Sutton 107,407 115,169 120,569 125,693 
			 Swindon 99,650 103,259 107,169 110,647 
			 Tameside 126,931 133,157 133,408 130,997 
			 Telford and Wrekin 91,545 93,936 94,710 96,249 
			 Thurrock 84,337 88,593 93,821 95,030 
			 Torbay 63,337 66,919 69,227 70,612 
			 Tower Hamlets 197,620 214,012 222,676 232,291 
			 Trafford 115,557 122,267 129,836 134,623 
			 Wakefield 169,213 177,316 181,551 182,151 
			 Walsall 156,923 166,212 170,660 170,137 
			 Waltham Forest 144,467 153,176 160,125 167,109 
			 Wandsworth 124,128 134,423 140,411 146,257 
			 Warrington 105,260 111,706 116,014 119,386 
			 Warwickshire 255,186 268,812 277,924 287,519 
			 West Berkshire 82,568 88,582 92,825 95,953 
			 West Sussex 366,745 385,413 399,531 400,316 
			 Westminster 86,014 89,186 89,075 90,949 
			 Wigan 169,716 177,387 182,506 186,156 
			 Wiltshire 215,852 228,304 237,385 243,179 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 66,332 70,547 73,044 75,873 
			 Wirral 170,958 179,355 183,718 188,116 
			 Wokingham 75,960 81,022 84,607 88,029 
			 Wolverhampton 136,566 144,504 148,732 149,595 
			 Worcestershire 259,678 271,961 282,736 288,576 
			 York 79,798 83,311 86,056 88,321 
			 England Total 26,573,622 28,031,554 28,941,547 29,620,467 
			 n/a = Not applicable. (1) Authorities changed as a result of local government reorganisation.

Teachers: Rarely Cover

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  what additional support he plans to provide to teachers to help facilitate the continuation of educationally valuable visits or trips in light of the rarely cover guidelines;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effect on the conduct of school trips of his Department's rarely cover guidance;
	(3)  what recent discussions he has had on the application of his Department's rarely cover guidance; with whom such discussions were held; and on what dates these discussions took place;

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will place in the Library a copy of the guidance he has issued to schools on the requirement that teachers rarely cover for absent colleagues; what guidance he has issued to schools on the implementation of Rarely Cover guidelines for school trips; and what definition of Rarely Cover is used in the context of such guidance.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  what estimate his Department has made of the number of school excursions which were cancelled owing to a failure to provide sufficient levels of staff cover in the last 12 months;
	(2)  what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the requirement that teachers rarely cover for absent colleagues does not adversely affect learning activities outside the classroom.

Vernon Coaker: The Secretary of State and my predecessor, the right hon. Member for South Dorset (Jim Knight) have discussed the issues of "rarely cover" individually with our social partners on the Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group on a number of occasions over the last few months.
	General guidance on the "rarely cover" provisions was issued at the end of April. A copy of this has been placed in the House Libraries. It makes clear that teachers should, from September 2009, be required to cover for absent colleagues only rarely, in circumstances that are not foreseeable.
	Since April, the Department has been working hard with social partners to produce additional guidance on the "rarely cover" provisions. This will include guidance on learning outside the classroom which is designed to help schools plan effectively for these activities, which we all agree are an important part of the curriculum. The additional guidance, which will be subject to a period of consultation, will be issued shortly and a copy will be placed in the House Libraries.
	No estimate has been made of the number of learning outside the classroom activities that have been cancelled because of a lack of cover over the last 12 months and where schools take note of the new guidance, we do not anticipate that the "rarely cover" provisions will result in reduced opportunities for learning outside the classroom in the future.

Truancy: Yorkshire and the Humber

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many parents in each local authority area in Yorkshire and the Humber appeared in court on charges related to the unauthorised absence of their child from school in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: The Ministry of Justice collects and publishes data for England and Wales on prosecutions brought against parents under the Education Act 1996 for the offence under s444(1) of failing to secure their child's regular attendance at school; and for prosecutions under s444(1A), the aggravated offence of knowing that their child is failing to attend school regularly. It is possible, because of the way courts record data, that some s444 data are also collected under the more general heading of various offences under the Education Act 1996.
	The information on the number of parents prosecuted by local authorities in Yorkshire and the Humber for failing to secure their children's regular school attendance between 2003 to 2007 (latest available data) is detailed in the table. Data are collected on the basis of police force regions and not local authority areas. Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
	
		
			  Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences under the Education Act 1996 S.444( 1) , Yorkshire and Humberside region, broken down by police force area, 2003 to 2007( 2, 3) 
			   2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 Humberside 65 29 208 224 225 
			 North Yorkshire 19 21 24 34 53 
			 South Yorkshire 463 375 333 455 483 
			 West Yorkshire 162 218 63 19 9 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 709 643 628 732 770 
			 (1) Includes the following; (a) Failure to secure regular attendance at school. (Education Act 1996 S.444 (1)(8)). (b) Parent knows that their child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school. (Education Act 1996 S.444(8)(1a)(8a) added by Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 S.72). (2) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: Evidence and Analysis Unit—Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Ministry of Justice

Youth Crime Priority Areas: Finance

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much additional funding has been allocated by his Department to the 69 local authority areas identified as Youth Crime Priority Areas; and over what period that funding will be provided.

Vernon Coaker: The Youth Crime Action Plan (YCAP), published in July 2008, sets out the Government's plans for tackling offending by young people. It is supported by close to £100 million over the three year period from 2008-09 to 2010-11, in addition to the existing investment in children's and youth services, to support local authorities in making inroads into youth crime locally.
	69 local authority areas (and two in Wales) have been identified as "priority areas" under YCAP. In 2008-09, under YCAP, the 69 local authorities in England each received £65,000 to implement an intensive package of activity set out in YCAP.
	Each of the 69 local authority areas in England will receive £350,000 this financial year (2009-10) and £350,000 in 2010-11 to deliver the intensive package of activity to help reduce youth crime. In addition, the two Welsh areas will receive £175,000 in each of the two years to fund those aspects of the intensive package that are not devolved.
	This year, building on the success of the Home Office enforcement campaign in 2008/09 we will provide funding to the 69 areas to develop a co-ordinated plan of activity to tackle alcohol related youth crime. Areas will be provided with a grant of up to £20,000 (£1.4 million in total) to kick start activity to begin before the summer and last at least throughout the summer holidays.

Departmental Data Protection

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many attempts were made to gain unauthorised access to each  (a) database and  (b) ICT system run by his Department in 2008-09; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many successful attempts were made to gain unauthorised access to each  (a) database and  (b) ICT system run by his Department in 2008-09; and if he will make a statement.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: It is not in the interests of the UK's national security for Departments to confirm information on the number of attempts, successful or otherwise, to gain unauthorised access to departmental systems or databases. Such disclosure could undermine the integrity and security of departmental systems and thereby expose them to potential threats.
	HM Treasury is bound by the mandatory requirements of the Security Policy Framework in relation to information security including managing the risk of unauthorised access to ICT systems.

Financial Services: Regulation

Dai Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies on the banking and financial services sector of the paper presented on 8 May 2009 to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Conference on reforming financial regulation by the executive director for financial stability of the Bank of England.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Government's approach to reforming regulation of financial services is set out in the Government's paper 'Reforming Financial Markets', published on 8 July 2009

Interpal

Jo Swinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Milton Keynes South West,  Official Report, column 677W, on Interpal, whether he has received evidence from the US administration on the basis for the allegations made against Interpal in its press notice of 22 August 2003.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: As set out in the Treasury's written answer of 12 May 2009,  Official Report, column 677W, HM Treasury officials are in discussions with their US counterparts about how to facilitate legitimate charitable work, while protecting against the abuse of charities by those involved in terrorist finance. As part of this, HM Treasury continue to discuss the specific case of Interpal with the US authorities.

Operational Efficiency Programme: Met Office

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with which other public sector bodies the Operational Efficiency Programme project team plans to work in its review of the Met Office.

Liam Byrne: holding answer 7 July 2009
	As part of the joint work on the Trading Funds Review which preceded the Operational Efficiency Programme (OEP), Met Office has had initial engagement with public sector bodies including the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Natural Environment Research Council. The Met Office OEP review team is currently reviewing which further public sector bodies to consult with as part of the next phase of work.

Departmental Publications

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the  (a) original budget for and  (b) outturn cost of production of his Department's report Getting it right, and righting the wrongs was.

Shahid Malik: The information is as follows.
	 (a) £100,000 was allocated to the independent Review of Redress in each of 2008-09 and 2009-10. This covered the full costs of the review, including production of the final report.
	 (b) Costs for the design, printing and typesetting of the "Getting it right and righting the wrongs" report and the accompanying practitioners' toolkit were £23,046 excluding VAT.

Departmental Work Experience

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many interns work in his Department; what terms of reference apply to their appointment; what remuneration they receive; and how long on average an intern appointment lasts.

Shahid Malik: The Department for Communities and Local Government currently has 12 interns working in the Department. Details of the different terms of reference, remuneration and the length of the appointment on offer are set out as follows.
	 Cabinet Office interns
	There are four interns from this programme. All are on a training contract, with remuneration of £24,951 per annum (pro rata). The placements last on average six weeks.
	 Government economics interns
	There are two interns from this programme. All are on causal contracts, with remuneration of £22,540 per annum (pro rata). The placements last on average six weeks.
	 Government legal interns
	There are six interns from this programme. All are on causal contracts, with remuneration of £180 per week. The placements last two weeks.

Derelict Land

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what area of land designated as brown field in each county in 1997 has since been dedesignated; and what estimate he has made of the area of such land which has been built upon since 1997.

Ian Austin: No information is available on what land was designated as brownfield in 1997. Information on the stock of brownfield land by region from 1998 is available from the National Land Use Database of Previously-Developed Land and is given in the following table:
	
		
			  Hectares 
			  Government  office region  1998  2001 on 1998 specification  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 North East 4,120 4,850 4,930 4,780 4,360 4,540 4,230 3,970 4,030 
			 North West 8,370 10,390 10,710 11,770 11,390 11,830 11,860 11,060 10,910 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 8,930 8,880 9,010 8,000 8,070 8,230 8,170 8,580 9,110 
			 East Midlands 5,610 5,960 6,140 6,390 5,870 5,660 5,540 6,240 6,360 
			 West Midlands 5,040 5,600 5,850 6,560 6,420 6,250 6,980 6,050 5,930 
			   
			 East of England 6,950 7,560 7,820 7,540 7,930 7,360 6,830 7,190 6,890 
			 London 2,820 3,710 4,590 3,520 3,430 3,290 3,080 3,640 3,930 
			 South East 9,740 9,120 9,870 10,910 10,860 10,370 10,130 9,930 8,990 
			 South West 6,110 6,340 6,580 6,650 7,420 6,570 6,660 6,070 5,960 
			   
			 England 57,710 62,420 65,500 66,110 65,760 64,130 63,490 62,730 62,130 
		
	
	Information at county level for land which has been de-designated, and the acreage of land which has been built on could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Faith and Social Cohesion Unit

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what support his Department is giving to the Charity Commission's Faith and Social Cohesion Unit.

Shahid Malik: The Department for Communities and Local Government is part-funding the Charity Commission's Faith and Social Cohesion Unit to a total of £1.3 million over financial years 2007-08, 2008-09, and 2009-10. The Charity Commission is also contributing £200,000 over each of these financial years through staff resources.

Fire Services: Manpower

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many fire fighters were employed at fire stations in  (a) the North East,  (b) Tees Valley and  (c) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in each year since 1997.

Shahid Malik: Available data on the number of firefighters are shown in the tables. This is for:  (a) the north-east, and for  (b) the Tees Valley areas of Cleveland and of Darlington.
	Fire fighter strength data for Darlington, and both headcount and strength data for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  (a) Number of firefighters, the north-east of England, 1999 to 2008 
			   Headcount  Strength 
			  At 31 March  Whole - time  Retained duty  Wholetime( 1)  Retained duty( 2) 
			 1999 2,195 450 2,195 343 
			 2000 2,213 456 2,213 371 
			 2001 2,224 442 2,222 351 
			 2002 2,239 456 2,239 396 
			 2003 2,201 449 2,236 390 
			 2004 2,140 455 2,138 393 
			 2005 2,086 456 2,086 419 
			 2006 2,051 485 2,049 414 
			 2007 2,049 477 2,040 406 
			 2008 2,031 471 2,031 393 
			 (1) In full-time equivalents (FTEs) (2) In 24-hour units of cover. Figures include volunteers and members of private brigades,  Source: Annual Returns to CLG 
		
	
	
		
			  (b) (i) Number of firefighters, Cleveland, 1999 to 2008 
			   Headcount  Strength 
			  At 31 March  Whole - time  Retained duty  Wholetime( 1)  Retained duty( 2) 
			 1999 603 85 603 66 
			 2000 589 89 589 69 
			 2001 601 80 601 62 
			 2002 610 85 610 66 
			 2003 586 89 589 69 
			 2004 570 87 570 66 
			 2005 563 90 563 72 
			 2006 561 84 559 66 
			 2007 562 81 562 62 
			 2008 542 94 542 72 
			 (1) In full-time equivalents (FTEs) (2) In 24-hour units of cover. Figures include volunteers and members of private brigades  Source: Annual Returns to CLG 
		
	
	
		
			  (b) (ii) Number of firefighters, Darlington, 1997 to 2008 
			   Headcount( 1)  Strength( 2) 
			  At 31 March  Whole - time  Retained Duty( 3)  Wholetime( 4)  Retained Duty( 5) 
			 1999 64 0 n/a n/a 
			 2000 64 0 n/a n/a 
			 2001 68 0 n/a n/a 
			 2002 68 0 n/a n/a 
			 2003 68 0 n/a n/a 
			 2004 68 0 n/a n/a 
			 2005 56 0 n/a n/a 
			 2006 56 0 n/a n/a 
			 2007 56 0 n/a n/a 
			 2008 56 0 n/a n/a 
			 n/a = data not available (1) Figures exclude Group Manager and Station Manager grades, therefore report fire-fighter personnel only. (2) Annual return data is for establishment only and is not broken down by station. (3) Darlington has no retained duty fire-fighters. (4) In full-time equivalents (FTEs). (5) In 24-hour units of cover. Figures include volunteers and members of private brigades.  Source: Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service

Fires: Domestic Waste

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps fire authorities have taken to examine the causes of wheeled refuse container fires; and if he will make a statement.

Shahid Malik: All fires are investigated by fire and rescue services and a most likely cause is determined either by the incident commander or a fire investigation officer.
	Local analysis of fire data is undertaken within fire and rescue services to determine trends, such as geographical locations or types of incident, and to inform the Integrated Risk Management Planning process. This data is used internally and is not shared with Communities and Local Government.

Fires: Domestic Waste

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will estimate the number of wheeled refuse container fires in England in the last 12 months.

Shahid Malik: The number of wheeled refuse container fires is not yet held centrally and so could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
	Data on refuse fires are calculated from aggregate monthly returns. These are limited to the total number of refuse and refuse container fires attended by each fire and rescue service. These provide insufficient information to make an estimate on the number of wheeled refuse container fires.
	The total number of refuse and refuse container fires is shown in the table for the latest year for which information are available.
	The recently implemented electronic incident recording system (IRS) records both the number and location of all incidents attended by fire and rescue services. The number and location of wheeled refuse container fires attended by fire and rescue services will therefore be available, with the first data being for 2009-10.
	
		
			  Total refuse and refuse container fires, England, 2007( 1) 
			  FRS area  2007( 1) 
			 England 108,335 
			 Avon 1,489 
			 Bedfordshire 911 
			 Berkshire 831 
			 Buckinghamshire 1,181 
			 Cambridgeshire 941 
			 Cheshire 2,881 
			 Cleveland 3,853 
			 Cornwall 320 
			 Cumbria 1,305 
			 Derbyshire 1,230 
			 Devon 1,459 
			 Dorset 525 
			 Durham 2,419 
			 East Sussex 862 
			 Gloucestershire 618 
			 Greater London 12,478 
			 Greater Manchester 10,451 
			 Hampshire 2,512 
			 Hereford and Worcester 621 
			 Hertfordshire 1,197 
			 Humberside 3,459 
			 Isle of Wight 130 
			 Isles of Stilly 0 
			 Kent 2,326 
			 Lancashire 4,362 
			 Leicestershire 1,429 
			 Lincolnshire 965 
			 Merseyside 6,493 
			 Norfolk 861 
			 North Yorkshire 940 
			 Northamptonshire 1,409 
			 Northumberland 949 
			 Nottinghamshire 1,983 
			 Oxfordshire 553 
			 Shropshire 784 
			 Somerset 541 
			 South Yorkshire 5,563 
			 Staffordshire 2,327 
			 Suffolk 713 
			 Surrey 916 
			 Tyne and Wear 6,050 
			 Warwickshire 816 
			 West Midlands 7,029 
			 West Sussex 728 
			 West Yorkshire 8,407 
			 Wiltshire 518 
			 (1) Data for 2007 are provisional and subject to change  Source: CLG

Flats: Construction

Michael Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will ensure that blocks of flats of a height of 30 metres or more completed or refurbished after April 2007 are fitted with sprinkler systems.

Ian Austin: The Building Regulations 2000 require that
	"where reasonably necessary to inhibit the spread of fire within the building"
	automatic fire suppression systems and/or fire resisting construction should be provided in new buildings.
	In April 2007, the guidance given in Approved Document B (Fire safety), which shows one way in which this requirement can be met, was amended to provide that both a sprinkler system and fire resisting construction should be provided in new blocks of flats over 30 m in height.
	The building regulations apply to building work. Therefore, where a building is being refurbished and building work is being undertaken then that work will need to comply with the relevant requirements of the regulations and the rest of the building should be made no worse as a result of the work being carried out.
	Furthermore, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires those with responsibility for the building (usually the employer, owner or occupier) to carry out a fire risk assessment based on the particular circumstances and use of the premises. Under the order, the responsible person must put in place whatever fire protection measures are adequate and appropriate to mitigate the risk to life in the event of a fire. The order is not prescriptive about what specific fire safety measures are required. This is a matter for the responsible person based on the outcome of their risk assessment.

Housing: Low Incomes

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 5 May 2009,  Official Report, column 135W, on housing: low incomes, what the average amount of grant paid for  (a) intermediate affordable housing and  (b) housing for social rent in each region was in each of the last five years.

Ian Austin: The average amount of grant per unit paid through the Homes and Communities Agency's Affordable Housing programme by region for social rent and intermediate affordable housing in each year 2005-06 to 2008-09 is as follows:
	
		
			  Social rent—average grant per unit 
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 East Midlands 37,879 38,792 38,736 39,939 
			 East of England 41,623 35,108 29,376 42,328 
			 London 80,979 83,821 94,957 97,715 
			 North East 53,301 45,189 59,354 46,067 
			 North West 58,916 51,159 50,277 53,179 
			 South East 52,325 55,190 49,973 53,444 
			 South West 40,992 33,376 42,304 40,004 
			 West Midlands 52,615 43,245 43,381 46,260 
			 York and Humber 38,495 45,667 41,176 44,711 
			 National 55,353 55,796 57,289 57,306 
		
	
	
		
			  Intermediate housing—average grant per unit 
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 East Midlands 18,846 17,626 16,417 19,006 
			 East of England 27,631 19,427 13,849 26,369 
			 London 46,187 41,951 41,421 44,749 
			 North East 10,097 20,650 18,240 22,590 
			 North West 27,996 26,921 24,937 28,226 
			 South East 27,644 24,084 19,999 25,414 
			 South West 18,255 15,001 16,041 21,463 
			 West Midlands 23,095 20,228 15,556 23,581 
			 York and Humber 15,347 17,817 21,051 27,830 
			 National 31,795 28,927 25,524 30,313 
			  Source:  Homes and Communities Agency

Housing: Single People

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people were living in single person dwellings in each region in each of the last 30 years.

Ian Austin: The particular data requested has not previously been published, however data on household size by tenure is published in the annual Survey of English Housing reports. The most recent data can be found in table 3 of the Survey of English Housing Preliminary Report 2007-08 available at:
	www.communities.gov.uk/documents/statistics/pdf/1133551.pdf
	The following table provides estimates of the number of one person households in each region for 1999 to 2008 inclusive. Estimates by region for the years previous to this could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The overall number of one person households in England in 1981 was 3,823,000 and in 1991 it was 5,039,000. The estimates are based on data from the ONS Labour Force Survey.
	
		
			  Number of one person households, England 
			  T housands of households 
			  Region  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008 
			 North East 309 318 332 340 339 351 337 350 340 362 
			 North West 784 779 784 829 778 814 824 811 873 876 
			 Yorks and Humberside 600 610 618 636 642 646 628 632 669 688 
			 East Midlands 439 464 447 464 482 505 467 506 536 525 
			 West Midlands 573 583 562 618 604 585 586 586 611 631 
			 Eastern 584 609 619 617 593 605 625 653 631 665 
			 London 878 896 899 902 922 889 876 878 837 859 
			 South East 883 864 881 933 976 941 996 972 942 937 
			 South West 568 577 596 613 616 596 594 622 633 610 
			 Total 5,619 5,701 5,737 5,953 5,953 5,931 5,931 6,009 6,073 6,154 
			  Source:  ONS Labour Force Survey.

International Comparison of Geographical Trading Models

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the terms of reference were for the Ordnance Survey report entitled International Comparison of Geographical Trading Models; who was responsible for commissioning the report; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the report.

Ian Austin: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) on 14 July 2009,  Official Report, column 316W.
	The report was commissioned in April 2009 by my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Wright).
	The terms of reference were:
	"To provide a broad comparison of various trading models used by a representative sample of National Mapping Agencies with the current model operated by Ordnance Survey, and to understand their impact on the range, quality, currency and provision of national mapping, and of its use."

Islam: Faith Schools

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what contribution his Department has made to support the development of citizenship education in mosque schools through the Islam Citizenship Education Project.

Shahid Malik: The Islam and Citizenship Education (ICE) Project is jointly funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Communities and Local Government. The DCSF awarded a contract, worth £318,652, to the School Development Support Agency (SDSA) running from February 2008 to July 2009 to develop and pilot citizenship lessons for use in mosque schools. The SDSA, working in conjunction with Muslim communities, has successfully delivered this contract. We are currently in the process of tendering for the next stage of the ICE Project to roll out the lessons to mosque schools nationally. Apart from fulfilling their contractual obligations, the SDSA and community-based organisations have made no financial contribution towards the ICE Project.

Public Lavatories: Disabled

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his policy is on the provision of Changing Places public conveniences.

Ian Austin: We are keen to see increasing numbers of changing places toilets, and will be exploring in detail what role Building Regulations might play in supporting improvements in provision at a national level. In order to do this, we will shortly be commencing a review of part M (access to and use of buildings) of the Building Regulations, which includes consideration of sanitary provision for disabled people, and revised guidance would be scheduled to come into force in 2013.
	In addition, this Department's Strategic Guide on 'Improving Public Access to Better Quality Toilets', published last year, highlighted what local authorities, who have powers to provide public conveniences, and their partners can do to improve public access to toilets in their area. This included a section that drew attention to the Changing Places campaign, and stressed the importance of these facilities to people with profound and multiple learning disabilities.

Social Rented Housing: Hertfordshire

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of  (a) local authority and  (b) housing association homes in (i) Hemel Hempstead constituency, (ii) Dacorum and (iii) Hertfordshire met the Decent Homes standard in each of the last five years.

Ian Austin: The proportion of dwellings that met the Decent Homes standard in each of the last five years are listed in the following table. Data for Hemel Hempstead is not available as the constituency crosses several administrative boundaries.
	
		
			  Proportion of decent dwellings 
			  Percentage 
			   Local authority  Registered social landlord 
			   2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008 
			 Dacorum 96.7 97.1 97.3 95.9 99.20 n/a 87.6 83.7 91 91.2 
			 Hertfordshire 84.2 83.7 83.4 80.4 83.9 n/a 87.6 87.5 90.6 88.9 
			  Source:  Annual returns, from all LAs that retain social housing stock, to Communities and Local Government and annual return from Registered social landlords.

Social Rented Housing: Immigrants

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the proposals relating to council and other social housing waiting lists in the Draft Legislative Programme 2009, Cm 7654, will apply to  (a) immigrants from other EU member states and  (b) asylum seekers from outside the EU.

Ian Austin: Our proposals will give local authorities more flexibility to take into account local needs and priorities when determining their allocation policies. In different localities, this might mean giving relatively more priority to people who:
	Can bring necessary skills to the area, as part of efforts to promote a stronger economy
	Are living in overcrowded conditions—if this is a serious local concern
	Have local family connections—if housing markets make private rental or ownership unaffordable for many
	Are engaging with training opportunities—where there is a particular need to address skills shortages and worklessness
	Have waited longest—where this is seen as the fairest means of distinguishing between otherwise similar applicants.

Social Rented Housing: Standards

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has been spent on bringing homes up to the Decent Homes Standard in  (a) 2007-08,  (b) 2008-09 and  (c) 2009-10 to date; and how much is expected to be so spent in 2010-11.

Ian Austin: Information from the Homes and Communities Agency and Tenant Services Authority using statistical returns submitted by local authorities and registered social landlords indicate what we expect to be spent on expenditure maintaining the condition of social housing stock, including up to the Decent Homes standard. This information is set out in the table.
	
		
			  £ billion 
			   Total investment  LA  RSL 
			 2007-08 (outturn figures) 4.15 3.21 0.94 
			 2008-09 4.48 3.49 0.99 
			 2009-10 4.25 3.21 1.04 
			 2010-11 3.75 2.85 (1)0.90 
			 (1) Assumed figure

Economic Challenge Investment Fund

Tony Baldry: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the procedure is for  (a) individuals and  (b) businesses to apply for funding from the Economic Challenge Investment Fund.

David Lammy: The Economic Challenge Investment Fund (ECIF) is a Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) matched funding initiative available to higher education institutions with a total value of just over £58 million. The fund was set up to help the sector provide swift and responsive support to individuals and businesses affected by the economic downturn. Individuals and businesses can access support directly from those higher education institutions successful in securing additional funding through ECIF.

Higher Education: Admissions

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate his Department has made of the change in numbers of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service applications from applicants in each  (a) age group,  (b) region and  (c) socio-economic group between 2008-09 and 2009-10.

David Lammy: The latest figures published by UCAS showing applicants as at 30 June, are shown in the tables. UCAS has not released any data on socio-economic group for 2009 entry.
	
		
			  UK domiciled applicants to full-time undergraduate courses in the UK at 30 June by age 
			  UK domiciled students  2008  2009  Percentage change 
			 Under 21 357,986 381,916 6.7 
			 21-24 48,993 57,443 17.2 
			 25 and over 54,535 66,557 22.0 
			 Total 461,514 505,916 9.6 
		
	
	
		
			  UK domicile d  applicants to full-time undergraduate courses in the UK at 30 June by home country 
			  Country of domicile  2008  2009  Percentage change 
			 England 390,358 429,734 10.1 
			 Scotland 33,890 35,892 5.9 
			 Wales 20,577 22,839 11.0 
			 Northern Ireland 16,689 17,451 4.6 
			 Total 461,514 505,916 9.6 
			  Source: UCAS

Higher Education: Admissions

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate his Department has made of the number of  (a) places available for applicants in and  (b) applications for entry to university in 2009.

David Lammy: holding answer 13 July 2009
	 As of 30 June, there had been 487,356 applicants to full-time undergraduate courses for entry in 2009. This is based on UCAS data, and covers UK and EU domiciled applicants to English institutions. UCAS data does not provide a complete picture. It does not cover all institutions, or applications for part-time or postgraduate study.
	We do not have an estimate of the total number of places available in 2009. This will depend on a number of factors—including growth in non-funded places and part-time provision.
	In terms of HEFCE funded growth, the 2009 Grant Letter provides teaching grant for 10,000 Additional Student Numbers (ASNs) in 2009-10. ASNs refer to full-time equivalent places, and do not purely relate to entrants. They are also used to accommodate second or subsequent cohorts related to entrant expansion in earlier years. HEFCE estimate that the allocation these ASNs funds an additional 10,000 part-time entrant places (in headcount terms) and 3,000 full-time entrant places in 2009. This is in addition to the number of entrants in 2008. Data on the number of entrants in 2008 will not be available until early 2010.

Higher Education: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding per  (a) undergraduate and  (b) postgraduate student his Department and its predecessors allocated to (i) the University of York and (ii) York St. John University in each year since 1998.

David Lammy: This information is not held in the form requested. However, it is possible to provide notional figures for the amount of grant distributed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for teaching and research apportioned by the number of learners (full time equivalent) in each year. It should be noted that there have been some significant changes in HEFCE's funding methodology over this period which means that the following table should not be read as a time series. In addition the data does not take account of other sources of public funding, for example from the NHS or the Research Councils. Crucially it should be borne in mind that institutions have a significant degree of freedom in terms of how its grant is distributed internal. It is for that reason that the figures given are notional and should not be read as the actual level of resource attached to any particular learner.
	
		
			  £ per academic year 
			   York St. John University  University of York 
			  Study level  UG  PGT  PGR  UG  PGT  PGR 
			 1998-99 2,276 418 1,185 2,942 1,842 6,332 
			 1999-2000 2,355 477 1,898 3,008 1,964 6,593 
			 2000-01 2,540 429 1,258 3,083 2,005 6,452 
			 2001-02 2,707 594 1,715 3,118 1,920 6,686 
			 2002-03 2,752 222 954 3,159 1,720 7,275 
			 2003-04 2,988 440 662 3,110 1,663 7,985 
			 2004-05 3,522 359 1,458 3,344 1,484 8,515 
			 2005-06 3,695 350 n/a 3,438 1,540 6,210 
			 2006-07 3,897 509 n/a 3,668 1,672 5,149 
			 2007-08 4,075 642 n/a 3,895 1,828 5,854 
			 2008-09 4,078 927 n/a 4,088 1,911 5,806 
			  Key: UG: Undergraduate PGT: Postgraduate taught PGR: Postgraduate research

Islam: Higher Education

Ben Wallace: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to paragraph 9.21 of the UK Strategy for Countering International Terrorism, Cm 7457, how much of the £1 million which the Higher Education Funding Council for England has committed for work on the gaps in Islamic studies teaching and research has been allocated; and to what projects.

David Lammy: In June 2007, the Government designated Islamic Studies as a strategically important subject and asked HEFCE to earmark £1 million of its existing funding to develop a programme of work to support this.
	To date, HEFCE has allocated:
	£100,000 towards commissioning research into Islamic Studies in higher education, building on Dr. Siddiqui's report on Islam at universities in England, and holding consultation events with the Islamic Studies community at:
	http://www.hefce.ac.uk/aboutus/sis/islamic
	£850,000 towards the development and implementation of a UK Islamic Studies network to bring the community of UK Islamic Studies scholars closer together. The Higher Education Academy (HEA) and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) are taking this forward at:
	http://www.hefce.ac.uk/aboutus/sis/islamic/network
	In the coming year, HEFCE is commissioning a symposium for Islamic Studies scholars across the UK and Europe. Hosted by the British Academy, the symposium will promote the UK as a centre of excellence in Europe for Islamic Studies.

London Metropolitan University

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to protect  (a) student places and  (b) staff jobs at London Metropolitan University following the Higher Education and Funding Council for England's request for repayment of funds allocated to the university in previous years.

David Lammy: holding answer 2 July 2009
	It is an important principle set out in legislation (sections 65(1) and 68(2b) of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992) that Ministers cannot intervene in the funding decisions for individual institutions made by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). As is the case with other universities, London Metropolitan University receives grant from HEFCE under a Financial Memorandum which sets out how it should properly account for its public funding. It is for the Funding Council to keep the financial health of the institutions it funds under review to protect the public interest, including ensuring that public funds are properly spent.
	The University will wish to consider a bid to HEFCE's Strategic Development Fund to support its future plans. The final decision on restructuring and forward planning must rest with the University and I remain confident that Higher Education provision in general across London will be sufficient to meet the diversity of demand. No Government though can give a commitment to protect every course or department at any particular institution.

London Metropolitan University

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department has taken to ensure an independent inquiry into the finances of London Metropolitan University following the Westminster Hall adjournment debate of 20 May 2009,  Official Report, columns 435-57WH.

David Lammy: holding answer 2 July 2009
	I fully supported the Funding Council's decision to commission an independent review of its own handling of the situation at London Metropolitan university. It has also always been my view that a similar review should be conducted into the actions of the university itself, and I have made that view clear in discussions with the Funding Council. I am therefore pleased that, London Metropolitan has now commissioned Sir David Melville and Deloitte to conduct such a review. I believe that this must look at all aspects of what happened at London Metropolitan, including issues of governance.

Students: Fees and Charges

Stephen Williams: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the total receipts from university tuition fees debt repayments in each year from 2009-10 to 2019-20.

David Lammy: Provisional figures for income contingent student loan repayments, either notified to or received by the Student Loans Company, in the financial year 2008-09 were £788.3 million(1). It is not possible to break down this figure to amounts repaid for tuition fee loans and maintenance loans, as they are consolidated in the borrower's loan account.
	Estimates of income contingent student loan repayments will depend on a number of factors, including student numbers, graduate income levels and patterns of behaviour. Estimates for 2009-10 and 2010-11 are approximately £1.2 billion and £1.4 billion respectively. Estimates for later years are not available.
	Figures for financial year 2009-10 are expected be published in a Statistical First Release in summer 2010.
	(1) This figure covers direct repayments to SLC, and HMRC notifications of repayments collected through the tax system sent through to SLC in that year, less refunds by SLC to customers where borrowers have over paid their loans—English domiciled students studying in the UK and EU students studying in England.
	 Source:
	SLC Statistical First Release 2002-09 published 25 June 2009.

Training: Logistics

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much the Government has spent on improving the skills of the workforce in the logistic transport industry in Wales in each of the last five years.

Peter Hain: I have been asked to reply.
	UK Government funding for Skills for Logistics, the Sector Skills Council for the logistic transport industry is provided through the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. Over the last five financial years, they have provided the following funding for the UK as a whole:
	
		
			   £ million 
			 2004-05 1.519 
			 2005-06 2.127 
			 2006-07 2.352 
			 2007-08 1.940 
			 2008-09 2.438 
		
	
	As Skills for Logistics is allocated resources to provide training across the UK, spending in Wales could only be disaggregated at disproportionate cost.

Afghanistan

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what expenditure his Department has incurred in  (a) Helmand Province and  (b) elsewhere in Afghanistan in 2009-10 to date. [Official Report, 12 October 2009, Vol. 497, c. 1MC.]

Douglas Alexander: The budget for Helmand province in 2009-10 is £18 million and the rest of Afghanistan is £109.5 million. We anticipate spending our full combined budget of £127.5 million by the end of 2009-10.
	The Department for International Development (DFID) publishes expenditure in its annual report and the Statistics in International Development publication. These are available in the Library of the House and on the DFID website:
	www.dfid.gov.uk

Afghanistan: Overseas Aid

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding his Department has allocated for reconstruction, development and stabilisation projects in Babaji, Helmand province following the completion of Operation Panchai Palang; and what steps his Department is taking to secure contributions from international and development agencies for such projects.

Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) has set aside a total of £72 million over the next four years to promote stability and development in Helmand province as a whole, including for projects in Babaji.
	DFID also works with the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to allocate additional funding to Helmand from the cross-departmental Stabilisation Aid Fund (SAF). The three Departments have agreed to set aside almost £15 million of SAF funding for district stabilisation projects across Helmand in 2009-10. In the Babaji area, funds will be used to respond to identified needs in the areas of health, education, policing, elections, justice and small-scale infrastructure. Our support will enable the Afghan Government to re-engage in Babaji.
	Over the next few months, DFID will provide £5 million and the SAF will provide an additional £3 million for wheat seed, fertiliser, and agricultural assistance across Helmand province, including to farmers in Babaji. From September, USAID will provide agricultural vouchers, cash for work, and small business grants throughout Helmand, which will include Babaji.
	DFID support includes two long-term infrastructure projects on which we are working with our international development partners. DFID has secured co-funding from the Asian Development Bank for the construction of a 48 km road through the Babaji area, connecting Lashkar Gah to Gereshk. DFID, the Asian Development Bank and the Danish Government will also co-fund the rehabilitation of a hydro-power plant in Gereshk. The project is expected to triple electrical generation capacity, benefiting 200,000 people.

Africa: Overseas Aid

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the Government's progress towards its 2005 G8 commitment to double aid for the eradication of poverty in Africa by 2010.

Gareth Thomas: The UK Government are on track to meet their commitments to Africa made at the Gleneagles G8 meeting in 2005. Our expenditure in Africa is projected to reach £3.4 billion in 2010-11, from a baseline of £1.26 billion in 2004-05. These spending levels were confirmed in the April 2009 Budget.

Departmental Electronic Equipment

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many  (a) BlackBerry devices and  (b) mobile telephones have been lost by (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in his Department in each year since 2005.

Michael Foster: Our records show that in the last five years we have had no blackberry devices lost and the total number of mobile phones lost was 13. We cannot break this down further as this information is not readily available and cannot be provided without incurring a disproportionate cost.
	The total number of mobile phones lost in each of the last five years is as follows:
	
		
			   Numbers lost 
			 2004-05 3 
			 2005-06 5 
			 2006-07 4 
			 2007-08 1 
			 2008-09 0

Departmental Information Officers

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the cost to his Department of  (a) press officers and  (b) other press office staff has been in each year since 1997.

Michael Foster: The cost of press office staff salaries in 2008-09 was £940,154 and for 2007-08 was £648,516; this includes permanent and agency staff. The other requested information was provided in the answer on 21 April 2008,  Official Report , column 1426W.

Departmental Procurement

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what changes have been made to his Department's  (a) office equipment and  (b) stationery purchasing policy in the last six months.

Michael Foster: There have been no changes to the Department for International Development's Office Equipment or Stationery purchasing policy in the last six months.

Palestinians: Overseas Aid

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid his Department has  (a) committed to and  (b) spent in Gaza in 2009-10.

Michael Foster: The total budget currently allocated for the Occupied Palestinian Territories for this financial year is £67 million.
	In the first three months of 2009-10, the Department for International Development (DFID) has spent approximately £6 million in Gaza on support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and other organisations providing humanitarian assistance.
	A further £5.5 million is in the pipeline for Gaza, including a payment that we will soon make to the Palestinian Authority (PA) through the World Bank Trust Fund. This will help pay teachers, doctors and engineers, and keep basic services running. In addition, this financial year we expect to spend a further £7.6 million on early recovery assistance in Gaza.
	We have earmarked the remaining £20 million for reconstruction when access restrictions are eased and it is possible for projects to start.
	Since the political situation in Gaza remains fluid, we cannot give exact figures on how much will be spent this year. However, we aim to maintain flexibility so that we can respond at short notice if possible. The amount of further support to the PA for this financial year, which would also benefit Gaza, is still to be decided.

Dental Services: Waiting Lists

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time for  (a) initial orthodontic assessment and  (b) subsequent orthodontic treatment was in the North East region in each of the last five years.

Ann Keen: The following tables show the median in-patient waiting time for elective admission in weeks for oral surgery, orthodontics between the time periods shown (table 1) and the median out-patient waiting time for a first out-patient appointment in weeks for the time periods shown (table 2).
	
		
			  Table 1: In-patient commissioner hospital-based waiting list statistics: specialties—oral surgery, orthodontics 
			  Weeks 
			Month ending 
			  Area  Specialty  March 2003  March 2004  March 2005  March 2006  March 2007  September 2007 
			 North East Oral surgery 8.4 8.4 6.6 6.6 6.5 7.1 
			 North East Orthodontics 8.0 8.2 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 n/a = No orthodontic waiters were declared for the time periods specified.  Notes: 1. Figures are shown for organisations that existed at the time. 2. In-patient waiting times are measured from decision to admit by the consultant to admission to hospital. 3. The last time this data was collected was for period ending September 2007. 4. Median waiting times are calculated from aggregate data, rather than patient level data, and therefore are only estimates of the position on average waits. 5. In particular, specialties with low numbers waiting are prone to fluctuations in the median. This should be taken into account when interpreting the data.  Source: Department of Health Waiting List Collections QF01 and MMRCOM. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Median out-patient waiting time for first out-patient appointment not seen, 2005-07 (commissioner-based), out-patient commissioner hospital-based waiting list statistics: specialties—oral surgery, orthodontics 
			  Weeks 
			Month ending 
			  Area  Specialty  March 2005  March 2006  March 2007  September 2007 
			 North East Oral surgery 4.5 4.7 4.1 3.8 
			 North East Orthodontics 5.4 5.6 4.4 4.5 
			 n/a = No orthodontic waiters were declared for the time periods specified or there were very low numbers.  Notes: 1. Figures are shown for organisations that existed at the time. 2. Out-patient waiting times are measured from referral by the general practitioner (GP) to first out-patient appointment to the consultant. 3. From 2004-05 all timebands for out-patients not seen were first collected so only average waiting first out-patient times can be made from this point in time. 4. The last time this data was collected was for period ending September 2007. 5. Median waiting times are calculated from aggregate data, rather than patient level data, and therefore are only estimates of the position on average waits. In particular, specialties with low numbers waiting are prone to fluctuations in the median. This should be taken into account when interpreting the data.  Source: Department of Health Waiting List Collections QM08R and MMRCOM. 
		
	
	From 1 January 2009, no one should wait more than 18 weeks from the time they are referred by their GP or dentist to start of their consultant-led treatment unless it is clinically appropriate to do so or they choose to wait longer. The 18 weeks commitment covers pathways that involve or might involve consultant-led care, including orthodontics, which is now recorded under the oral surgery speciality.
	Latest data show that since January 2009, the national health service has been delivering the operating standards for 18 weeks to ensure that no one should wait more than 18 weeks from the time they are referred to the start of their consultant-led treatment, unless it is clinically appropriate to do so or they choose to wait longer.

Departmental Data Protection

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what databases which will be managed by his Department or one of its agencies and which will contain personal information are  (a) under construction and  (b) expected to go live in each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: Planned application developments which will contain personal information on members of the public or departmental staff are summarised in the following table. Year relates to expected year of implementation.
	Any personal data stored on the Department's databases is subject to the Data Protection Act and to our own, internal data protection policy.
	Following the publication of the cross government data handling review in June 2008, new projects and programmes that hold significant amounts of personal data are obliged to conduct privacy impact assessments.
	
		
			   Year  Database  Description 
			  2009-10 Hospitality Reporting Staff hospitality details and declarations of interest 
			  2009-10 Public Bodies Data on the membership of all the Department's sponsored public bodies 
			  2009-10 Third Sector Funding Grant applications and award monitoring process 
			  2009-10 The National Pandemic Flu Service Pandemic flu information management system 
			  2011-12 Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI) Details of medical treatment received while abroad and evidence of entitlement. System to be jointly managed with Department for Work and Pensions and Customs and Revenue 
			  n/k e-Directory Contact details for departmental staff and external contacts. Under consideration, but on hold; likely to be implemented sometime within the next five years 
			 NHS Choices n/k Contact management Information on service providers system who support the NHS Choices programme. Timing uncertain but likely to be in the next two years 
			 Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) MHRA are not developing, and have no plans to develop, any databases containing personal information in the next five years 
			 NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA) PASA are not developing, and have no plans to develop, any databases containing personal information in the next five years 
			 NHS Connecting for Health There are a number of programmes which are either in the planning or initiation phase. The datasets for these programmes will be developed as a consequence of the detailed analysis within each specific programme and it is, therefore, not possible to provide the requested detail at this stage. NHS Connecting for Health operate a comprehensive Information Governance programme with which all programmes must comply. The specific detail of future datasets will be submitted to the Information Standards Board for review and evaluation at the appropriate time within each programme

Departmental Databases

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information databases his Department  (a) maintains and  (b) uses which do not contain personal information.

Phil Hope: The Department maintains over 600 internal databases. Many of these are for local use and contain a limited amount of personal data. To provide an up-to-date and accurate list of all maintained databases would require analysis at disproportionate cost. The most significant are listed in the following table.
	
		
			  Databases managed by the Department of Health not holding personal information 
			  Database  Information 
			 Business Management System—(BMS) Financial Departmental financial information 
			 FIMS NHS financial information 
			 Refcosts NHS financial information 
			 UNIFY NHS statistical data 
			 VAXX Public Health vaccines data 
		
	
	All databases maintained by the Department are managed in compliance with the Data Protection Act. The categories of data held, and the purposes for which they are used, are detailed in the Department's entry in the Information Commissioner's Data Protection Register. This can be viewed at:
	www.ico.gov.uk/ESDWebPages/DoSearch.asp?reg=4295533
	The following databases contain personal information. Where the title of the database does not on its own explain its content, a brief note of explanation has been added.
	
		
			  Databases managed by the Department of Health holding personal information 
			  Database  Information 
			 Abortion Notifications Forms required by the Abortion Act 1967 
			 Agenda for Change Prison Service Database Job evaluation data 
			 Briefing material (LINUS) The Department's policy lines 
			 Business Management System (BMS)—HR The Department's Human Resources data 
			 Business Management System (BMS)—Procurement The Department's procurement data 
			 Certificate of Free Sales Medical technology company name and address details 
			 Clinical Excellence Database Medical consultants employed by the NHS in England and Wales, and NHS employers 
			 Contact Correspondence management system including ministerial correspondence, parliamentary questions, and freedom of information requests 
			 Distribution of Business Departmental Business Pages 
			 Dignity Champion Database Dignity in Care 
			 Directors of Estates and Facilities — 
			 Directory (Internal) The Department's staff lists 
			 Electronic Staff Record NHS employees 
			 External Directory Details of external contact 
			 Extra Care Housing Fund Bid and award information for Extra Care Housing Scheme grants 
			 Healthy Start Issuing Unit Database Individuals who may receive financial assistance 
			 Healthy Start Reimbursement Unit Retailer register for the Healthy Start Scheme 
			 Honours Material Personal and staffing information 
			 MEDBEN Medical benefits overseas health claims 
			 Mental Health Service Users Personal Data Individual casework data under mental health legislation 
			 Modernising Medical Careers Contacts from Doctors applying for speciality training posts in the NHS 
			 National Child Measurement Programme Primary school children weight assessment data 
			 National Research Register Research projects funded by or of interest to the NHS (archived from July 2009) 
			 National Stakeholder Forum Membership and Contacts — 
			 Nursery Milk Redemption Unit Day care provider details 
			 Occupational Health Smart Card System Pre-employment checks of doctors 
			 Payroll The Department's staff payroll 
			 Personal Medical Services (PMS) Pilots Central Return — 
			 POPPI and PANSI Registered Users Database POPPI (Projecting Older People Population Information), PANSI (Projecting Adult Needs and Servicing Information) 
			 Prison Probation Ombudsman (PPO) Death in Custody Reports — 
			 Private Contact Data for Mental Health Stakeholders — 
			 PROTOBS Private Office and Top of the Office Business System 
			 Injury Cost Recovery (ICR) Schemes Recovery of insurance payments in respect of treatment to accident victims provided by the NHS 
			 Security Vetting Database Staff clearance details 
			 SHA Very Senior Managers (VSM) Salaries and Performance Markings Data about managers in the NHS and arm's length bodies

Departmental Manpower

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many persons his Department  (a) employed directly and  (b) engaged as external contractors to work on press and public relations matters in each of the last five years; and at what cost in each such year;
	(2)  how many persons his Department's non-departmental public bodies  (a) employed directly and  (b) engaged as external contractors to work on press and public relations matters in each of the last five years; and at what cost in each such year.

Phil Hope: The available information is shown in the following tables.
	
		
			  Number of press officers employed by the Department's Media Centre, 2003-04 to 2007-08 
			   Number of staff 
			 2007-08 28 
			 2006-07 26 
			 2005-06 30 
			 2004-05 30 
			 2003-04 26 
		
	
	
		
			  Costs for the Department's Media Centre Staff, 2003-04 to 2007-08 
			   Cost (£ million) 
			 2007 - 08 1.369 
			 2006 - 07 1.765 
			 2005 - 06 1.772 
			 2004 - 05 1.471 
			 2003 - 04 1.284 
		
	
	Figures exclude social security and pension costs. We are unable to give figures for 2008-09 as they have not yet been audited.
	These figures only relate to activity by the Communications directorate and not to other areas of the Department as this would incur disproportionate cost.
	It is not possible to include figures for non departmental public bodies as these figures are not held centrally.

Drugs: Misuse

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of patients treated by the NHS for drug addiction in  (a) the East of England and  (b) Suffolk were no longer addicted at the end of their treatment in each of the last three years.

Gillian Merron: The number and percentage of people treated by the national health service for drug addition in the East of England and Suffolk is shown in the following table.
	
		
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			   Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage 
			  Eastern region   
			 Completed treatment 793 19 856 21 1,620 32 
			 Total discharged 4,232 100 4,052 100 5,047 100 
			
			  Suffolk   
			 Completed treatment 98 19 81 19 138 29 
			 Total discharged 522 100 424 100 481 100 
			  Notes: The data covers adults-only as young people are not considered to be drug-dependent; adults are defined as over 18s; the data is for all those who completed treatment and are therefore assessed as being no longer dependent on drugs; and the data covers all specialist drug treatment, not just NHS.  Source:  National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse.

Eating Disorders: Finance

Lembit �pik: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS spent on treating eating disorders in the period 2004 to 2008; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: This information is not held centrally. Primary care trusts are responsible for providing local health services and together with their strategic health authorities are responsible for deciding which services to plan, commission and develop to meet the health needs of their local communities.
	Since 2001-02, real terms investment in adult mental health services increased by 44 per cent., or 1.7 billion, putting in place the services and staff needed to transform mental health services. The national health service spent 5.53 billion on these services in 2007-08 compared to 3.844 billion in 2001-02.

General Practitioners: Finance

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate has been made of the likely effect on the number of GP surgeries upgraded to training practices of the 100 million in capital funding brought forward from 2010-11 to 2009-10 and 2008-09; and how much of the funding has been spent in each month since it was announced.

Mike O'Brien: Our initial indications are that over 700 general practitioner practices have made bids for funding to upgrade their practices. It is too early in the programme to indicate the amount of money spent.

Health Hazards: Mobile Phones

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what recent representations he has received on  (a) the adequacy of recommended safe levels of exposure to electromagnetic radiation and  (b) the adequacy of guidelines for protection from such radiation established by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection;
	(2)  what steps the Government has taken to implement the recommendations of the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones; and what measures are in place to protect children under the age of 12 years from exposure to potentially harmful radiation from mobile telephones;
	(3)  what discussions he has had in the Council of Ministers on the recommendations concerning EU member states contained in the European Parliament's Resolution of 2 April 2009 on health concerns associated with electromagnetic fields; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  what steps he is taking to  (a) identify and  (b) protect against the effects of mobile telecommunications radiation emissions those categories of people who have particular susceptibilities to them.

Gillian Merron: Between 1 June 2009 and 8 July 2009 the Department received one letter and one e-mail, both from the same member of the public, that mention guidelines for exposure to electromagnetic radiation.
	In 2004 the National Radiation Protection Board (NRPB) recommended adoption of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) exposure guidelines for occupational and public exposure to electromagnetic fields between zero and 300 gigahertz (GHz). The NRPB's recommendations can be found in the document Advice on Limiting Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (0-300 GHz) Documents of the NRPB volume 15 number 2, on the Health Protection Agency (HPA) website at:
	www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAwebHPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1195733817602?p=1219908766891
	The NRPB's scientific review underpinning their recommendations Review of the Scientific Evidence for Limiting Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (0-300 GHz) Documents of the NRPB volume 15 number 3 is on the HPA website at:
	www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAwebHPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1195733787839?p=1219908766891
	The Government response to the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones (Stewart) report was reviewed in the report Mobile Phones and Health 2004: Report by the Board of NRPB Documents of the NRPB volume 15 number 5 which is on the Health Protection Agency (HPA) website at:
	www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAwebHPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1195733821582?p=1219908766891
	A departmental leaflet on mobile phones and health, published following the Stewart report recommendation for further public information, includes advice concerning children's use of mobile phones and can be seen on the Department's web site at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4123979
	A copy has been placed in the Library.
	In response to the Stewart report, the Government have supported research on exposure to radio waves in the independently managed Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme (MTHR). A copy of the MTHR report of 2007 has already been placed in the Library. Information on a further phase of research is available on the MTHR website at:
	www.mthr.org.uk/research_projects/MTHR2_projects.htm
	The HPA report on electrical sensitivity HPA-RPD-010Definition, Epidemiology and Management of Electrical Sensitivity. Report for the Radiation Protection Division of the Health Protection Agency cab be found on the HPA website at:
	www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAwebHPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1195733810369?p==1197637096018
	United Kingdom Health Ministers have not had any discussions in the Council of Ministers on the recommendations concerning European Union member states contained in the European Parliament's Resolution of 2 April 2009 on health concerns associated with electromagnetic fields.

Health Services: Reciprocal Arrangements

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money was  (a) claimed and  (b) recovered from each partner nation for medical claims under the provisions of (i) form E111 and (ii) the European Health Insurance Card in each of the last five years.

Gillian Merron: The following table shows the amounts actually claimed to date by the United Kingdom against other European economic area (EEA) member states and the actual amounts paid to date against those claims for each of the last five calendar claim years.
	The amounts are combined claims for temporary visitors (via European Health Insurance Cards (EHIC), or form E111 prior to its replacement in 2005 by the EHIC), posted workers (via form E106) and referrals for treatment in other EEA countries (via form E112). Due to the nature of the claims system between member states, it is not possible to disaggregate these data consistently for all member states by either type of claim or type of treatment. The figures in the tables reflect the fact that EEA medical costs are typically submitted by member states (including the UK) one to three, and sometimes more, years in arrears.
	
		
			  EEA health care cost claims: Claims under Article 93 of Regulation (EC) 1408/71: UK claims against member states 
			2004( 1)  2005  2006  2007  2008 
			 Austria Initial claims total 101,281 14,617  14,673 50,750 
			  Total paid to date 101,281 14,617  14,673 14,929 
			
			 Belgium Initial claims total 1,295,401 1,394,748 1,369,548 6,277 36,075 
			  Total paid to date 1,295,401 1,394,748 1,369,548 6,277 32,976 
			 Bulgaria(3) Initial claims total  
			  Total paid to date  
			
			 Cyprus(2) Initial claims total382 4,515 
			  Total paid to date0 0 
			
			 Czech Republic(2) Initial claims total 2,260 
			  Total paid to date 2,260 
			
			 Denmark(4) Initial claims total  
			  Total paid to date  
			
			 Estonia(2,6) Initial claims total  
			  Total paid to date  
			
			 Finland(7) Initial claims total148 1,873 
			  Total paid to date148 0 
			
			 France Initial claims total 2,164,442 2,164,442 2,223,048 2,223,048  
			  Total paid to date 2,164,442 2,164,442 2,223,048 2,223,048  
			
			 Germany Initial claims total 18,431 15,265 74 12,633 53,611 
			  Total paid to date 0 15,265 74 12,633 45,774 
			
			 Greece Initial claims total 398,318 581,601 36,410 108,948 594,653 
			  Total paid to date 274,413 489,230 0 0 0 
			
			 Hungary(2,7) Initial claims total10,658 8,219 
			  Total paid to date10,658 8,219 
			
			 Iceland Initial claims total 24,942 
			  Total paid to date 24,942 
			
			 Ireland(8) Initial claims total 10,504,622 11,365,387 10,023,000 12,174,837 12,488,558 
			  Total paid to date 8,633,491 9,339,096 8,092,946 9,407,794 10,370,960 
			
			 Italy Initial claims total 1,804,107 912,920 131,826 147,251 708,649 
			  Total paid to date 1,443,286 730,336 105,461 117,801 566,919 
			
			 Latvia(2) Initial claims total  
			  Total paid to date  
			
			 Liechtenstein Initial claims total  
			  Total paid to date  
			
			 Lithuania(2) Initial claims total  
			  Total paid to date  
			
			 Luxembourg(5) Initial claims total  
			  Total paid to date  
			
			 Malta(2,7) Initial claims total  
			  Total paid to date  
			
			 Netherlands Initial claims total 5,414   6,691 41,428 
			  Total paid to date 0   0 0 
			
			 Norway(7) Initial claims total  968
			  Total paid to date  0
			
			 Poland(2) Initial claims total  
			  Total paid to date  
			
			 Portugal Initial claims total 22,773 44,614  12,887 172,331 
			  Total paid to date 9,097 20,251  3,481 0 
			
			 Romania(3) Initial claims total  
			  Total paid to date  
			
			 Slovakia(2) Initial claims total  
			  Total paid to date  
			
			 Slovenia(2) Initial claims total 4345,991 
			  Total paid to date 4345,991 
			
			 Spain Initial claims total 1,762,209 2,234,214 2,489,817 65,005 85,501 
			  Total paid to date 1,588,438 2,017,951 2,237,251 0 74,829 
			
			 Sweden Initial claims total 1,334 17,710   18,160 
			  Total paid to date 1,334 17,710   18,160 
			
			 Switzerland Initial claims total  
			  Total paid to date  
			
			  Initial claims (all countries) 18,078,766 18,746,486 16,273,723 14,783,438 14,297,517 
			  Total paid to date (all countries) 15,511,616 16,203,647 14,028,328 11,796,512 11,165,960 
			 (1) Under European Union regulations claims are made on a calendar year basis. Totals for each calendar year are based on actual claims submitted to date. (2) Acceded to the European Union in 2004 (3) Acceded to the European Union in 2007 (4) Total waiver. (5) Previous total waiver, expired on 30 June 2008. (6) Waiver, excepting Article 22.1c (patient referral) and Article 55.1c (industrial injury) claims. (7) Waiver, excepting Article 22.1c (patient referral) claims (8) Totals for Ireland for 2008 and previous years are estimated and subject to negotiations.

Health Services: Reciprocal Arrangements

Geoffrey Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the net effect on the public purse of the termination of the reciprocal health agreement with the Isle of Man in the 12 months following termination; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: The Department has not yet given formal notice on the bilateral agreement between the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man but it has informed the Isle of Man of the intention to do so. Because of a perceived imbalance in the numbers of tourists being treated by both parties, under the bilateral agreement the UK has provided the Isle of Man with an annual allocation, to fund clinical referrals to the UK, of around 2.5 million in recent years. The UK will no longer provide this, once the agreement is terminated. Following the end of the agreement, UK residents will require travel insurance when visiting the Isle of Man, likewise Isle of Man residents visiting here.

Health: Research

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent in supporting scientific and medical research undertaken by charities in the last 12 months.

Gillian Merron: The Department's National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network (CRN) provides the health service infrastructure to support clinical trials and other studies funded by both commercial and non-commercial organisations. All eligible studies funded by research charities are automatically entitled to CRN support. The network is currently supporting 850 such studies. They comprise some 38 per cent. of the total CRN portfolio.
	The cost of the CRN in 2008-09 was 158 million. It is not possible separately to identify what part of that expenditure was attributable to the support given to research charity funded studies.

Hospital Beds

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital bed days there were for  (a) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and  (b) all respiratory diseases in (i) England and (ii) each primary care trust area in the latest period for which figures are available.

Ann Keen: The hospital bed days data for 2007-08 for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and all respiratory disease in England and each primary care trust (PCT) are given in the following table.
	
		
			  Primary care trust of responsibility code  Primary Care Trust Of Responsibility Description  Respiratory diseases  Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease( 1) 
			  Total (England) 3,863,569 794,363 
			 
			 59898 Not Applicable 18,317 2,599 
			 59999 Unknown 846 152 
			 5A3 South Gloucestershire PCT 15,684 2,921 
			 5A4 Havering PCT 16,619 3,542 
			 5A5 Kingston PCT 12,189 2,325 
			 5A7 Bromley PCT 21,462 3,791 
			 5A8 Greenwich Teaching PCT 15,953 4,079 
			 5A9 Barnet PCT 15,252 2,149 
			 5AT Hillingdon PCT 13,415 2,424 
			 5C1 Enfield PCT 14,407 2,658 
			 5C2 Barking and Dagenham PCT 13,605 3,602 
			 5C3 City and Hackney Teaching PCT 13,283 2,583 
			 5C4 Tower Hamlets PCT 19,863 5,021 
			 5C5 Newham PCT 17,209 3,783 
			 5C9 Haringey Teaching PCT 14,543 2,095 
			 5CC Blackburn with Darwen PCT 8,775 2,302 
			 5CN Herefordshire PCT 13,256 2,094 
			 5CQ Milton Keynes PCT 13,391 2,680 
			 5D7 Newcastle PCT 27,936 6,886 
			 5D8 North Tyneside PCT 24,403 5,367 
			 5D9 Hartlepool PCT 8,483 2,177 
			 5E1 North Tees Teaching PCT 15,866 3,900 
			 5EF North Lincolnshire PCT 14,068 3,552 
			 5EM Nottingham City PCT 22,086 4,620 
			 5ET Bassetlaw PCT 7,104 1,920 
			 5F1 Plymouth Teaching PCT 16,303 3,054 
			 5F5 Salford PCT 25,151 5,478 
			 5F7 Stockport PCT 24,645 5,286 
			 5FE Portsmouth City Teaching PCT 14,423 2,651 
			 5FL Bath and North East Somerset PCT 13,889 2,317 
			 5GC Luton PCT 12,666 2,881 
			 5H1 Hammersmith and Fulham PCT 12,624 2,357 
			 5H8 Rotherham PCT 22,540 5,310 
			 5HG Ashton, Leigh and Wigan PCT 26,903 5,739 
			 5HP Blackpool PCT 15,124 4,136 
			 5HQ Bolton PCT 24,164 5,309 
			 5HX Ealing PCT 22,372 3,741 
			 5HY Hounslow PCT 16,341 2,980 
			 5J2 Warrington PCT 14,023 3,304 
			 5J4 Knowsley PCT 20,321 5,844 
			 5J5 Oldham PCT 18,168 4,014 
			 5J6 Calderdale PCT 19,300 4,921 
			 5J9 Darlington PCT 7,755 1,664 
			 5JE Barnsley PCT 25,035 7,872 
			 5JX Bury PCT 11,148 1,959 
			 5K3 Swindon PCT 12,103 2,576 
			 5K5 Brent Teaching PCT 14,731 2,112 
			 5K6 Harrow PCT 9,184 1,491 
			 5K7 Camden PCT 13,811 3,301 
			 5K8 Islington PCT 16,898 4,100 
			 5K9 Croydon PCT 21,626 5,416 
			 5KF Gateshead PCT 22,194 5,353 
			 5KG South Tyneside PCT 17,520 4,300 
			 5KL Sunderland Teaching PCT 30,087 7,249 
			 5KM Middlesbrough PCT 14,285 2,578 
			 5L1 Southampton City PCT 18,703 4,219 
			 5L3 Medway PCT 15,540 2,731 
			 5LA Kensington and Chelsea PCT 8,761 1,954 
			 5LC Westminster PCT 12,388 2,401 
			 5LD Lambeth PCT 17,368 3,460 
			 5LE Southwark PCT 16,837 3,649 
			 5LF Lewisham PCT 17,304 3,807 
			 5LG Wandsworth PCT 16,950 3,305 
			 5LH Tameside and Glossop PCT 22,573 3,714 
			 5LQ Brighton and Hove City PCT 15,377 2,673 
			 5M1 South Birmingham PCT 32,819 6,708 
			 5M2 Shropshire County PCT 21,136 3,904 
			 5M3 Walsall Teaching PCT 25,384 5,933 
			 5M6 Richmond and Twickenham PCT 12,081 1,836 
			 5M7 Sutton and Merton PCT 24,628 5,212 
			 5M8 North Somerset PCT 14,644 2,792 
			 5MD Coventry Teaching PCT 26,177 5,040 
			 5MK Telford and Wrekin PCT 11,932 2,052 
			 5MV Wolverhampton City PCT 20,363 4,389 
			 5MX Heart of Birmingham Teaching PCT 20,056 3,067 
			 5N1 Leeds PCT 67,297 15,320 
			 5N2 Kirklees PCT 32,652 6,489 
			 5N3 Wakefield District PCT 30,323 8,444 
			 5N4 Sheffield PCT 61,707 11,683 
			 5N5 Doncaster PCT 29,776 6,925 
			 5N6 Derbyshire County PCT 59,126 12,179 
			 5N7 Derby City PCT 19,012 2,598 
			 5N8 Nottinghamshire County Teaching PCT 42,942 7,260 
			 5N9 Lincolnshire Teaching PCT 50,626 10,445 
			 5NA Redbridge PCT 16,458 2,371 
			 5NC Waltham Forest PCT 16,611 2,739 
			 5ND County Durham PCT 43,452 11,508 
			 5NE Cumbria Teaching PCT 43,228 9,975 
			 5NF North Lancashire Teaching PCT 30,543 7,507 
			 5NG Central Lancashire PCT 37,239 7,243 
			 5NH East Lancashire Teaching PCT 24,085 6,602 
			 5NJ Sefton PCT 26,064 7,202 
			 5NK Wirral PCT 29,083 6,167 
			 5NL Liverpool PCT 58,955 15,384 
			 5NM Halton and St. Helens PCT 30,452 8,097 
			 5NN Western Cheshire PCT 19,924 3,664 
			 5NP Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT 34,896 7,328 
			 5NQ Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale PCT 16,889 3,391 
			 5NR Trafford PCT 18,155 3,695 
			 5NT Manchester PCT 50,077 10,944 
			 5NV North Yorkshire and York PCT 50,917 10,175 
			 5NW East Riding of Yorkshire PCT 25,403 5,843 
			 5NX Hull Teaching PCT 28,033 7,902 
			 5NY Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT 34,182 6,305 
			 5P1 South East Essex PCT 21,131 6,260 
			 5P2 Bedfordshire PCT 24,853 5,328 
			 5P3 East and North Hertfordshire PCT 30,711 6,794 
			 5P4 West Hertfordshire PCT 32,126 5,529 
			 5P5 Surrey PCT 69,523 11,194 
			 5P6 West Sussex PCT 49,193 8,318 
			 5P7 East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT 25,107 5,312 
			 5P8 Hastings and Rother PCT 15,180 3,096 
			 5P9 West Kent PCT 44,126 8,596 
			 5PA Leicestershire County and Rutland PCT 41,852 7,552 
			 5PC Leicester City PCT 24,068 4,712 
			 5PD Northamptonshire Teaching PCT 39,055 8,378 
			 5PE Dudley PCT 25,571 4,300 
			 5PF Sandwell PCT 28,069 5,754 
			 5PG Birmingham East and North PCT 38,567 9,151 
			 5PH North Staffordshire PCT 16,758 3,914 
			 5PJ Stoke on Trent PCT 24,872 5,384 
			 5PK South Staffordshire PCT 36,106 6,371 
			 5PL Worcestershire PCT 40,747 5,344 
			 5PM Warwickshire PCT 36,583 6,702 
			 5PN Peterborough PCT 9,692 1,426 
			 5PP Cambridgeshire PCT 39,227 6,942 
			 5PQ Norfolk PCT 47,936 7,349 
			 5PR Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT 15,807 3,792 
			 5PT Suffolk PCT 34,918 5,182 
			 5PV West Essex PCT 21,918 4,540 
			 5PW North East Essex PCT 18,801 4,645 
			 5PX Mid Essex PCT 16,897 2,677 
			 5PY South West Essex PCT 28,657 7,864 
			 5QA Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT 46,053 8,932 
			 5QC Hampshire PCT 81,730 14,848 
			 5QD Buckinghamshire PCT 27,568 4,198 
			 5QE Oxfordshire PCT 28,480 7,579 
			 5QF Berkshire West PCT 23,784 3,679 
			 5QG Berkshire East PCT 22,066 4,555 
			 5QH Gloucestershire PCT 51,048 8,559 
			 5QJ Bristol PCT 31,729 7,649 
			 5QK Wiltshire PCT 30,063 4,668 
			 5QL Somerset PCT 34,345 7,525 
			 5QM Dorset PCT 34,811 5,652 
			 5QN Bournemouth and Poole Teaching PCT 30,619 5,372 
			 5QP Cornwall and Isles of Scilly PCT 39,821 8,212 
			 5QQ Devon PCT 58,216 11,591 
			 5QR Redcar and Cleveland PCT 12,999 2,870 
			 5QT Isle of Wight NHS PCT 6,824 1,113 
			 TAC Northumberland Care Trust 27,489 6,403 
			 TAK Bexley Care Trust 13,143 2,681 
			 TAL Torbay Care Trust 9,605 1,681 
			 TAM Solihull Care Trust 14,400 2,465 
			 TAN North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus 18,248 4,979 
			 (1 )The chronic obstructive pulmonary disease figures are a subset of the figures for respiratory diseases.

Influenza

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many of the cases of H1N1 flu reported to the Health Protection Agency (HPA) by 16 June 2009 were recorded by the HPA as  (a) male, imported,  (b) female, imported,  (c) male, indigenous and  (d) female, indigenous H1N1 cases; in how many such cases the patient was aged (i) under 10, (ii) 10 to 19, (iii) 20 to 29, (iv) 30 to 39, (v) 40 to 49, (vi) 50 to 59 and (vii) over 60 years; in how many such cases the HPA has recorded (A) the date of symptom onset, the date of obtaining the blood sample from which the H1N1 diagnosis was made and the date of the H1N1 case report and (B) the date of symptom onset, the date of obtaining the blood sample from which H1N1 diagnosis was made, the date of the H1N1 case report and the date on which the H1N1 antiviral prophylaxis or treatment was started;
	(2)  how many of the cases of H1N1 flu reported to the Health Protection Agency by 16 June 2009 were recorded as having been hospitalised by 30 June 2009; and how many such patients were aged  (a) under 10,  (b) 10 to 19 , (c) 20 to 29,  (d) 30 to 39,  (e) 40 to 49,  (f) 50 to 59 and  (g) over 60 years;
	(3)  how many of the cases of H1N1 flu reported to the Health Protection Agency by 16 June 2009 were recorded as being  (a) imported,  (b) indigenous and  (c) not assigned or not known.

Gillian Merron: The cases reported by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) are shown in the following tables.
	Not all of the data requested are currently available. This is because:
	testing for swine flu is based on swabs, not blood samples;
	data for Scotland are not currently available for the period requested;
	complete data on the commencement of antiviral treatment or prophylaxis is not available. This is because once detailed data on the first few hundred cases had been collected, the HPA stopped collecting that level of detailed information; and
	verified data on hospitalisations is only available up to 16 June.
	
		
			  Pandemic influenza A(H1N1) 2009 cases reported by 16 June 2009. England, Wales and Northern Ireland  ( PQ285833 ) 
			Age group   
			  Counts  Gender  Under 10  10 to 19  20 to 29  30 to 39  40 to 49  50 to 59  Over 60  Unknown  Grand total 
			 Imported Female 8 10 25 18 11 2 6 1 81 
			  Male 9 12 35 18 12 8 6 7 107 
			  Unknown 1  3  2   1 7 
			 Imported total  18 22 63 36 25 10 12 9 195 
			
			 Indigenous Female 62 64 19 16 14 9 2 5 191 
			  Male 64 123 17 11 6 1 2 3 227 
			  Unknown 10 2 2 1  1  1 17 
			 Indigenous total  136 189 38 28 20 11 4 9 435 
			
			 Unknown Female 48 46 16 7 12 3 2 30 164 
			  Male 50 70 16 17 6 3  26 188 
			  Unknown 17 10 6 2 1 1  33 70 
			 Unknown total  115 126 38 26 19 7 2 89 422 
			 Grand total  269 337 139 90 64 28 18 107 1,052 
			
			 Date of onset not known  143 139 62 43 22 6 5 76 496 
			 Date of onset known  126 198 77 47 42 22 13 31 556 
			 Grand total  269 337 139 90 64 28 18 107 1,052 
		
	
	
		
			  Pandemic influenza A(H1N1v) 2009 cases reported by 16 June 2009. England, Wales and Northern Ireland (PQ2858 3 4) 
			  Number of cases hospitalised 
			   Age group   
			  Hospitalisation  Under 10  10 to 19  20 to 29  30 to 39  40 to 49  50 to 59  Over 60  Unknown  Grand total 
			 Yes 2  1 1 1   1 6 
		
	
	
		
			  Pandemic influenza A(H1N1v) 2009 cases reported by 16 June 2009. England, Wales and Northern Ireland (PQ285 8 35) 
			  Route of infection  imported  T otal 
			 Imported 195 
			 Indigenous 435 
			 Unknown 422 
			 Grand total 1,052

NHS Purchasing and Supply Team: Pay

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are employed by the NHS Purchasing and Supply Team; and what the annual salary bill is for  (a) all its employees and  (b) its senior management team.

Mike O'Brien: The number of people employed by NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency for 2008-09 was 257 (whole time equivalent). The annual salary bill for 2008-09 was as follows:
	
		
			
			 Employees 13,640,000 
			 Senior management team 874,318

NHS: Procurement

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what efficiency savings were  (a) anticipated and  (b) generated under the Framework for Procuring External Support for Commissioning programme in each year of the programme.

Mike O'Brien: Efficiency savings could not be anticipated in advance of national health service use of the framework. These will be determined on a case-by-case basis, dependent upon type of support required by each individual commissioning authority.
	Some commissioning authorities stipulate a requirement for Framework for procuring External Support for Commissioners (FESC) suppliers to commit to the generation of a degree of savings. This differs from procurement to procurement, and will be dependent upon the type of commissioning service being procured. To date, in those contracts where this stipulation has been made, FESC suppliers have committed to guaranteed savings totalling 18 million. This figure does not include any additional incremental savings subsequently achieved during the course of a contract.

NHS: Procurement

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the net cost of the Framework for Procuring External Support for Commissioning programme has been to date.

Mike O'Brien: To date, the total net cost to the national health service for procurements through the Framework for procuring External Support for Commissioners (FESC) is 15 million. In some cases, dependent upon the type of services being procured, there are likely to be additional incremental savings, which will be shared between the commissioning authority and the FESC supplier.

NHS: Procurement

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has paid to KPMG as part of the Framework for Procuring External Support for Commissioning programme to date.

Mike O'Brien: To date, no contracts have been signed with KPMG by commissioning authorities through the Framework for procuring External Support for Commissioners (FESC). Therefore, to date, the amount paid to KPMG in relation to provision of services through FESC is 0.00. KPMG did provide the central FESC team with some assistance in developing some elements of the generic template documentation. This was a short-term consultancy arrangement to a total value of approximately 25,000.

Radon Gas: Houses

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the number and location of households liable to be affected by high levels of radon gas; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: The Health Protection Agency (HPA) estimate that approximately 100,000 homes in the UK exceed the action level of 200 Bequerels/m(3) and the location of houses above the action level is shown in a map taken from the 2008 HPA Indicative Atlas of Radon in England and Wales (see following web link). The complete atlas has more detailed information if needed. Only 0.2 per cent. of houses are above the action level.
	www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAwebHPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1195733749409?p=1158934607718
	The HPA is currently carrying out a public consultation exercise on whether the Action Level should be reduced, among other questions.
	Householders and employers are able to find out the risk of a high radon gas level in a property from the radon probability maps of the United Kingdom published by the HPA and, for England and Wales, the British Geological Survey.

Safeguarding Patients and Trust Assurance and Safety

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what programmes his Department has initiated to deliver policies outlined in Safeguarding Patients and Trust Assurance and Safety since 2007; and what further such programmes are planned for the period to 2012.

Ann Keen: The Government have established the Professional Standards Programme to take forward the recommendations contained in Trust, Assurance, Safety and Safeguarding Patients.
	Between now and 2012 the Government plan to continue with this programme of reform. Elements of the programme that are planned to be implemented in this period include; establishing the Office of the Healthcare Professions Adjudicator and designing and introducing systems of revalidation for regulated health care professionals, starting with doctors.

Social Services

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have received care packages part-funded by the NHS following an assessment by social services in each local authority in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: Information of the number of people receiving care packages part-funded by the national health service following a social services assessment is not collected.

Telemedicine

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of his Department's Preventative Technology Grant  (a) was spent on telecare in 2006-07 and  (b) he estimates will be spent on telecare in 2007-08; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: The 80 million Preventative Technology Grant was granted to local authorities with social care responsibilities to provide telecare services, however this funding was not ring-fenced. Specific details of how this money was used by individual local authorities was not gathered, however it is known that the number of new telecare and telehealth users have increased by over 200,000. Any residual Preventative Technology Grant money was allowed to be carried over into 2008-09 to help sustain momentum. No money has been recovered by the Department and local authorities are expected to have used grant funding for telecare purposes.
	During the period of the grant over 80 million worth of business has been procured through the PASA Telecare National Framework Agreement.